MainSpring Neighborhood

MainSpring Neighborhood

The MainSpring neighborhood is the name given by people of the neighborhood that covers the area from Main Street to Spring Street, and Court Street to Elm Street. In this relatively small area of the city of Auburn, there is great diversity. There are people from all over the world, from many social-economic backgrounds, from parents with small children to the elderly. There are business owners and unemployed, businesses and vacant storefronts, homeowners and renters. There are also three churches in this neighborhood; St. Michael’s Episcopal, High Street Congregational, UCC and the Unitarian Universalist church. We all live, work and worship in the same section of the city of Auburn.

In 2018, the churches of the neighborhood got together to discuss ways that we could bring the neighborhood together and give the folks that live, work and worship here a place where we could get to know one another. After applying and receiving a grant from the Episcopal Church and a matching donation from a St. Michael’s parishioner, along with a donation of space from High Street Congregational Church, we were on our way to empowering the residents of our church neighborhood to help themselves to live better and safer lives.

In two years, we have evolved. We are now hosting “Neighborhood Potluck Suppers”. Every 3rd Monday of the month at 6:00 pm, the group supplies a main dish and neighbors fill in with side dishes, desserts, paper goods, juices and waters, etc. The best part is after a few of these we start to get to know each other better, new faces show up each time as the word gets around. During the dinners we have speakers on a variety of topics ranging from fire safety, tenant’s rights, summer children’s activities or just an enjoyable evening of games.

It is an awesome experience to watch as we get to gain trust and friendship with each other. When someone doesn’t show up, people begin to ask where, why and express concern.

We are deeply appreciative of Shanna Cox, of Project Tipping Point, who helped us to organize ourselves. Other stakeholders are the Auburn Police Dept., Franklin School, Hannaford Supermarket, local banks, Community Little Theater, the Auburn Public Library and the City’s elected officials.

The ultimate goal is to leave the neighborhood empowered with self-reliance, recognition within the city as a safe and happy place to live and continued desire to know each other enough to offer assistance when needed.