“We Are Here” Stories (List View)

Palm Beach County residents were asked:

Please tell us about an important moment in your life that would help someone understand what it’s like living in your neighborhood.

The stories and micro-narratives they submitted (as part of the We Are Here SenseMaker project) are listed below. Click ZOOM IN to learn more about the community member and how they interpreted their submission. NOTE: Some stories were partially transcribed by volunteers who shortened the narratives and referred to the storytellers in the third person (e.g., “her experience was” instead of “my experience was”).


Sep 12, 2018

The support is real

There was a bad car accident in Boynton were the driver died. People were so supportive of the family of the person who passed. My community is so nice.
Sep 12, 2018

Give support when needed

I remember a school shooting happened. It didn’t happened my neighborhood. But the local high school in Boynton was supporting them. The had a moment of silence and was supporting the families.
Oct 16, 2018

Finding me

I remember this time when one of my friends chose not to go to school everywhere they went they saw the same person by the time they got home their parents knew they had not gone to school this person informed their parents they were not in school. So this shows how people in the community look out for each other’s kids.
Oct 30, 2018

A loving father/grandfather/ family first- Kene

The most important moment in my life, was when my grandson Gary was born. His mom and dad were very young, 17. So I took three years of my life to take care of him. He grew up to be an intelligent responsible young man. Wouldn’t be possible without the help of the community.
Oct 14, 2018

The Care and Feed of Grandfathers.

Came here from Lantana and lived here since 1970. Ran service desks in Lantana, but business became difficult and would have to borrow money to keep it running. Didn’t want to do that. Had two small kids to support and be around. Came out here quite by accident. Called out to a mechanic job in the area he found in the newspaper. Discovered Pahokee when he came down, and decided to move the whole family here. When he came down here, someone helped him out to pay off his dying business. He was lucky. Started working here, and living in a trailer. A lot of Jim Crow here, and he grew up in the North. He was a stranger to this. Did various jobs here. Father left home when he was 7. This experience made him determined to be a part of his kids lives.
Dec 21, 2018

One nice help- laroderick richardson

My neighborhood is good and quiet so one day I was very sick and I fell and so I’m screaming until my neighbors came and they helped me up to the hospital and they moved but I was always talking on him and then I used to meet up places and we always had fun and talked