Why Engage With Local Community Groups?

Image from Unsplash by Youssef Naddam, Public Domain Dedication (CCo).

Falling together… not apart from one another

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Falling Together by Rebecca Solnit
Listen at On Being with Krista Tippet

“There’s a way a disaster throws people into the present and sort of gives them this supersaturated immediacy that also includes a deep sense of connection. It’s as though in some violent gift you’ve been given a kind of spiritual awakening where you’re close to mortality in a way that makes you feel more alive; you’re deeply in the present and can let go of past and future and your personal narrative, in some ways. You have shared an experience with everyone around you, and you often find very direct, but also metaphysical senses of connection to the people you suddenly have something in common with.

“And then oftentimes, the people who do the really important work in disasters, which doesn’t get talked about much, are the neighbours. Who’s going to rescue you when your building collapses? When the ice storm comes and the power goes out? It’s probably going to be the neighbours.

“And so the question is really like two things. One is how can we get there without going through a disaster, and …”


Prologue to Rebecca Solnit’s 2009 book A Paradise Bull In Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise In Disaster. The essay explores how catastrophes often bring out the best in humanity, fostering spontaneous mutual aid, altruism, and deep social connection.

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Communities falling together by proximity and the proximate

Traditional views, such as those of Ferdinand Tönnies, emphasise physical closeness, where Gemeinschaft describes communities formed through shared space and strong interpersonal ties. However, modern perspectives show that proximity alone does not guarantee meaningful connection.

Émile Durkheim highlights how complex societies rely on interdependence rather than emotional closeness, while Benedict Anderson demonstrates that communities can be “imagined,” sustained through shared identity rather than physical interaction. Thus, the proximate—social, emotional, and symbolic closeness—can exist without geographic proximity.

A community, therefore, is best defined as a network of relationships shaped not only by spatial nearness but by the depth of connection, shared meaning, and ongoing interaction among its members.

Engaging with local community groups matters because it strengthens both everyday life and broader social wellbeing.

At the most immediate level, neighbours are the people you are in closest proximity to, making them the most accessible source of support. Regular interaction builds trust, which can translate into practical benefits like sharing resources, improving safety, and providing help in emergencies. These repeated, face-to-face encounters also foster what sociologists call social cohesion—a sense of belonging and mutual responsibility.

From a theoretical perspective, engaging with neighbours helps move relationships from impersonal coexistence toward the more connected form described by Ferdinand Tönnies as Gemeinschaft. It transforms mere proximity into the proximate—meaningful social ties. Similarly, it strengthens the kind of shared norms and trust that Émile Durkheim associated with social solidarity.

Ultimately, engaging with local community groups or connecting with locals at the local pub—or local café—where you are also likely to bump into neighbours turns a place of residence into a community of people with a shared sense of belonging, enhancing wellbeing, resilience, life in general.

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Cultivating a robust community spirit calls for transcending constructed identities and anchoring ourselves in what is fundamentally human: openness, curiosity, kindness, generosity of heart .

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Fred Rogers in conversation with Charlie Rose (1997)

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“This is my secret. It’s quite simple:
Only the heart sees clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.”
From The Little Prince (1943)
—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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