The Draft Letter

Here is an example of what you might want to drop in the letterboxes of your neighbours. Change anything in square brackets, and anything else you want, or write your own...

Dear Neighbour,

Would you like to be part of a ‘sharehood’?

I live in [street name], and I’d like to share some local resources and build a friendly community.

What is ‘The Sharehood’?

The Sharehood is a way to help you get to know neighbours, and share resources, skills and smiles. On the website – www.thesharehood.org – you can post a profile of things you are willing to lend and things you’d like to borrow. There’s also an online noticeboard that makes it easy to let each other know what’s happening in our area, and lots of information and ideas for things to do around our streets.

Our hood

Of course, no one is obliged to be involved, but using this system we could do things such as:
• Share goods like tools or sewing machines, or extra veggies from gardens
• Organise coordinated garage sales or swaps
• Plan activities, BBQs or working bees in our gardens
• Set up a fruit and veggie box co-op
• Coordinate a babysitting club or a car-pooling group

It would be whatever we all want it to be – and at least we’d have a good reason to get to know each other. It would be fun, cheap and good for the environment.

Meet up

If you’re interested, please come to a [BBQ/picnic/street party] in [location] on [date], to meet and discuss the idea.

Otherwise, call me on [your phone number – if you want] or send me an email [your email address]. If you like the idea, but you’re not sure, please respond anyway and we’ll discuss your concerns. Visit the sharehood website for more information: www.thesharehood.org

Thanks, and see you soon!

[your name]