Blanca Manubag-Melgoza is an individual that radiates “Good Neighbor.” She’s someone who is compassionate about her neighborhood — it’s safety, its activities, and its residents.
Blanca was nominated by London Lacy, who wrote in the following:
“A Good Neighbor is someone who personifies a passionate commitment:
- Without being asked to, or paid for, Blanca voluntarily, makes her neighborhood strong, by looking out for broken street light fixtures, abandoned cars, boarded up houses, starving cats and dogs, and wandering, wayward children. She’s not afraid to welcome them into her home, and offers support and solutions to their needs.
- Blanca is devoted as a City of Phoenix resident and spends many hours being a good neighbor, by learning the issues that affect her community, lending tools to neighbors who need a hand-saw, wrench, a lawnmower, or to reach a city service and are hindered by a language barrier, or the complexities of dealing with a local municipality.
- Her unbridled enthusiasm has garnered the attention of Laura Pastor, a councilwoman, to have Blanca’s happy and positive enthusiasm in her office as a community volunteer.
- Blanca takes pride in her corner lot on 13th Avenue and Vermont St. Every year, she helps the Pasadena Neighborhood group by hosting a yearly pancake breakfast in her own front yard, to welcome new neighbors, recruit volunteers and for listening to their concerns.
- If anyone deserves recognition, it’s Blanca for being the eyes and the ears of her neighborhood, keeping residents alert and informed of City of Phoenix programs and services and making her neighborhood safe and free of graffiti and blight.”
Wow! Talk about a Good Neighbor — a perfect recipient for our Good Neighbor Initiative front porch bench!
The delivery
We huddled outside of Blanca’s house with city representatives, friends and neighbors. As we approached Blanca’s front door, she met us in the driveway. And our Resource Development Director and Vice President proceeded to tell her all about her award — a beautiful bench painted by local artist Barbara Lacy
We took a little break to snap some photos of the bench with its new owner! Pictured below is Blanca (left) with nominator London (right).
Blanca even immediately reorganized her front porch so the bench could be proudly displayed (what a go-getter!).
As we were gathering our things to leave, Blanca, like the good neighbor she is, invited us in for snacks and drinks. Yum!
Thank you Blanca for your dedication to your community!