Finding Purpose at Any Age: A Conversation with Mrs. Norma Kennedy on Community and Service

What it truly means to me is bringing the community together so that we're one and we're not disjointed.

We work with...

We work and try through the Parrish Village News, through putting on events in the community.

And I always think about if you think about the word community, it ends with unity.

So you have to put the two together to make something happen and to find out what's in people's hearts.

That's what really matters.

That's great.

And that actually leads us into another thought that I had.

So the Patterson Foundation has worked with the Harwood Institute of Public Innovation for many years, almost since its inception, and uses their approach that you referenced in so much of its work.

And so the Harwood Institute recently, as a partner, did some research in North River Manatee County recently.

where they came together to have community conversations, roundtables, interviews.

I know you were so helpful with getting so many of those citizens to come and really be heard.

So part of that work is listening to what matters most to people and really where people can come and share their thoughts on the community and what's going on, whether it's the growth or what's going really great in the community.

We have the report here.

It's in both English and Spanish.

It's recently released.

So what did you make of the report? And tell us, anything surprised you or stuck out to

you? Well, it didn't really surprise me, but it did stick out to me that you know, when you're in your own little community, you think you're the only one that matters, and you're the only one that has the desires of whatever you want for that community.

I found out all the little communities in Manatee County, north of the river, want the same thing.

So I think because of that, then this is gonna make our task going forward a lot easier.

And we really what we really heard in the report and what one of the things that came out, like you said, is that people really do want the same thing.

And people do love living North River Manatee County.

And there are some things that need to be addressed where people can come together and do that.

But overwhelmingly, people do love living.

newcomers and lifelong residents like yourself.