Building Trust One Conversation at a Time: Community Rising in Kennett Square

Barbara McIlvaine Smith retired in 2020, moved to Kennett Square right before COVID, and spent two years largely isolated. What came out of that experience wasn't withdrawal. It was action.

Barb is a member of the Kennett Friends Meeting and one of the people behind Community Rising Kennett Square, an initiative that creates open spaces for neighbors to share concerns, hopes and ideas with each other. No agenda, no debate. Just people sitting together and listening.

The conversation gets honest about why listening is harder than it sounds. Most of us are already forming a response before the other person finishes talking. Barb connects that back to something bigger: the difference between empathy and compassion. Empathy is understanding what someone else is going through. Compassion is doing something about it. One without the other doesn't move anything forward.

Barb also talks about growing up on land her family has farmed since 1681, how that shaped her sense of community, and why she believes real change starts at the neighborhood level, not anywhere else.

Community Rising meets the third Sunday of each month from 2 to 4 p.m. at Kennett Friends Meeting, corner of West Sickle and Union Street. Everyone is welcome.