Love Your Actual Neighbor
The Good Life
Is Built Together
Our social health matters more than most of us realize. Love Your Actual Neighbor helps people build stronger, happier, more connected lives — starting with the neighbors closest to home.
A simple way to turn nearby people into actual neighbors.
Most of Us Need More Connection
You can have a loving family, a full calendar, and a church community that knows your name — and still need a wider circle of everyday connection.
That does not mean something is wrong with you.
It means you are human.
We need people who know us by repetition, not just appointment. People close enough to notice. People we can share meals, errands, stories, help, and ordinary life with.
A full calendar A connected life
Connection Can Start With
What You Already Love
Project Porchlight helps neighbors turn ordinary interests into real friendship.
Hiking. Pickleball. Book clubs. Dinner parties. Board games. Biking. Lunch groups. Golf. Paddleboarding. And more.
New activities are added as more neighbors sign up, start groups, and invite others in.
You do not have to invent a social life from scratch. Start with something you already enjoy — and people who live nearby.
Join Project Porchlight
Connection Is Not a Bonus
Strong relationships are not just nice to have. They are one of the clearest predictors of health, happiness, resilience, and a longer life.
80+
Years of research
Good relationships shape a good life.
The Harvard Study of Adult Development has followed lives for more than 80 years. One of its clearest lessons is simple: strong relationships are deeply tied to health and happiness.
200hrs
To become close friends
Friendship takes time.
Research suggests it can take around 50 hours together to become casual friends, 90 hours to become friends, and more than 200 hours to become close friends.
34min
Average daily social time
Most of us are not making enough social time.
The average American spends only about 34 minutes a day socializing and communicating — less on weekdays.
Real friendship does not happen through friendly waves alone.
Good Neighborhoods Can Still Be Fragile
A neighborhood can look strong and still lack connection.
It can have good homes, good families, safe streets, active churches, and kind people — while still missing the everyday trust and friendship that help people truly thrive.
Project Porchlight helps change that.
Many of us live near wonderful people we barely know.
Practice Neighboring
Project Porchlight is a simple way to build social health close to home.
- No complicated program.
- No perfect hosting.
- No pressure to become best friends with everyone.
Just simple habits that help neighbors become part of each other’s actual lives.
Learn About Project Porchlight
Three Simple Habits
Small habits, repeated over time, can change the feel of an entire street.
Say Yes
When neighbors invite you, come when you can. If you cannot, show appreciation and keep the door open.
Show Up
Strong neighborhoods are built by familiar faces, repeated over time.
Break Bread
Share a meal, dessert, drink, or conversation with someone nearby at least once a quarter.
Two Ways to Join
Project Porchlight works because ordinary people choose to make connection normal again.
Become a Porchlight Home
Porchlight Homes choose a more connected way of life — one porch, one invitation, one friendship at a time. They join a neighborhood group, say yes when they can, and make a simple effort to share food or conversation with neighbors throughout the year.
Become a Porchlight Home
Become a Block Builder
Block Builders help their street become an actual community again by organizing simple block events a few times a year. Potlucks, driveway desserts, walks, cleanups, front-yard hangouts — anything that helps neighbors gather.
Become a Block BuilderLove Your Actual Neighbor
Loving our neighbor is not only about helping people in need.
It is also about remembering how life is meant to work: we are made to know each other, need each other, and share life with each other.
Whether you see that as faith, wisdom, or social science, the invitation is the same:
- Know the actual people who live near you.
- Choose to show up for them.
- Let them show up for you.
Your neighbor needs you. And you need your neighbor too.
Starting in Lindon
We are beginning in Lindon, Utah, because we believe this community has everything it takes.
Good people. Strong families. Active faith. Safe streets. A deep tradition of service.
Now we have a chance to build on that strength by helping neighbors know each other, invite each other, and share more of life together.
Lindon has everything it takes. We just need to choose each other.
Join Us in LindonTurn On Your Porchlight
The kind of life you actually want is closer than you think. It starts with one invitation. One meal. One neighbor.