Union County Neighbors. Union County, NC

Today, the Monroe Scoop is highlighting another Union County based community web site called “Union County Neighbors”. Union County Neighbors is a great place to check in on the happenings in our area and it also hosts a vibrant membership. Membership is free and the site allows you to speak your mind, post videos and photos and just hang out with like-minded individuals. A virtual Union County water cooler hang out.

From Erin Monahan, publisher of Union County Neighbors:
I’ve been a Union County resident for most of my life – 28 years I’ve called it home. I know where “the old Rose’s” was, I remember when Stallings was still just a soy bean field, when you drove for 30 minutes without seeing anything much between Monroe and Charlotte, and when that rare trip was called “going to town.” My husband has only been here 17 years, he doesn’t remember any of that. But, bless his heart, he loves Union County like home too. Neither of us qualify as ‘natives’ but I suppose there’s some consolation in the fact that we can at least claim to have fallen in love with Union County and called it home before it was a nationwide trend to do so.

Good will and kindness flourish here. In 2001, and again in 2006, we were the beneficiaries, when we lost children to heart defects. The emotional and financial support we received from the community astounded us. We received cards and donations from people we’d never met, the cemetery and funeral home worked with us – it felt as though we were part of a big family, and everyone who heard wanted to help us because it was the neighborly thing to do.

Truth is, neither of us can quite imagine living anywhere else. We don’t take it lightly – we love the small town feel, and the life-long relationships that grow from it. We love that sense of being connected to our community. People here care about their neighbors and their neighborhoods, they bring casseroles over when you move into the neighborhood and watch your house if you go on vacation, they pull together when someone they know needs help. And of course, those are some of the reasons for all the new folks moving into town.

Who can blame them? But with so many new residents, we’re losing that sense of connection. We don’t know who they are or what they have to offer – we haven’t known their families for generations. We have no way of knowing that the guy who just moved in down the street is a 4th generation mason, or that he volunteers 20 hours a week feeding the homeless, or if he’d be the perfect one to help you out with those auto repairs you’re struggling with.

And our new neighbors don’t necessarily know that if they want fresh vegetables, they should find the Simpsons, or that if they’re looking for HVAC or Plumbing, that the Loves have done it for decades. When they ask for directions, you can’t say things like, “It’s up near the old Rose’s” or “Take a right at Mangum’s Grocery.” They don’t remember Sweet Union before Hugo demolished it, and to them, at least at first, “Bakers” are a group of people who make bread – not an intersection in Monroe.

That’s why we built the Union County Neighbors network. To help Union County residents, old and new, get to know one another. To find each other and build relationships – personal and professional. It’s one small way we are trying to give back to the community that has given so much to us. Yes, the scenery here is beautiful, but it’s the people that make Union County different and incredible, and we hope to create a place where people can come together – to share information and become part of the bigger whole that makes our area so wonderful.

This is a guest post authored by Erin Monahan. She and her husband Scott LeClair own and operate the locally based online community Union County Neighbors. Union County Neighbors offers a free business directory, forums, groups and an events calendar focused on Union County. To learn more about Union County Neighbors you can visit the site at http://unioncountyneighbors.com.

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