GREENRISE COMMUNITY PROGRESSIVE

On June 1st, ICA GreenRise residents held their very first community progressive, opening their rooms and spaces to one another and the larger GreenRise community.  ​

The progressive was organized by 7th floor resident Tara Gu, modeled after dorm room progressives, but with a new edge. The theme of the progressive was 'your community experience.' ​

GreenRise Community

Residents were encouraged to 'share a food or drink item that comes from their culture, something they grew up eating, introduce their residence, talk about their history with the community, talk about art on their walls, play music, put up a disco ball, or do anything else that would share their experience of living in this community.'
 
Over 20 community members participated in the progressive and learned new things about each other amidst recounting fun memories and shared experiences. The diversity and richness of the community added to the fun and intrigue of the evening. Although all the residents live in same building, each individual room looks completely different - and are representative of unique personalities and charms.  Some notable moments from the evening included long time resident Marge Philbrook sharing stories behind the cardinal pictures and figurines on her wall, event organizer Tara Gu showing her hand crafted treble clef created from LED lights, and ICA staff member Fara Taylor explaining her 5 different colored walls.

In addition to sharing spaces, residents were able to share their meaningful food, from tried and true family recipes (like mac-n-cheese and cornbread) and take-out favorites like pizza, to wine and mango sorbet. It was wonderful to hear residents explain why they chose the foods they did, and to learn about the memories behind a certain chair, or bookshelf, or table. Seemingly mundane items became profound as residents explained why they chose to keep the item when downsizing to a smaller space.

Seventh floor resident Dennis Jennings declared the event was so wonderful that "June 1st should become set in stone as the date for the annual progressive for the GreenRise Community!"