Adrienne Andrews | Knitted in Love and Community

Adrienne Gillespie Andrews
Hometown: Layton, Utah
Community Builder

I build communities no matter where I am. Whether it’s in a career or profession or service role or being a parent, building community is about finding ways for us to find points of connection so that we can build a better environment together. That means being able to have the difficult conversations when things sort of break down and differences emerge.

So I find that building a community starts in my home. I have my own family, including my husband and little boy, but I also come from an extended family where community building was what everyone did. My grandfather came here from Starkville, Mississippi with the military and served as military police. He stayed here after World War II and his family wondered, “why would you stay in Utah?” He said “if not now, when?” and that has stuck with me my entire life and it’s been one of the reasons I’ve been committed to building community because wherever we go, we get choices and we get to decide who to include and who to exclude and I’ve been on both sides of that fence.

I think it’s time we tear the fence down and we build the bridges where we need to and we make sure that everyone has an opportunity for the belonging that they want. And that starts with me doing the work of community building both in my home and all the other spaces that I am a part of.

We are welcoming and you are welcome here. You have a space here. There are places for you to be. And sometimes people may be nervous or shy or they may be afraid because they don’t know you or they don’t understand you. And that’s where you get to make the decision about where you build your home and what you’re doing and willing to do to cultivate community right where you are. It starts with finding common ground and the commitment to show that you both want a quality life, and if we can do that work then that is truly in my mind what Utah is about and I believe I work to do it every day. I know because of the many people who have come here.

There’s a reason that I’ve always come back to Utah no matter where I’ve lived. Whether it’s in Cuernavaca, Mexico or Denver, Colorado, or Bordentown, New Jersey. I come back because I know I’ll find my place in the flow. I’ll find my comfort in the mountains. I know I can share a dish with a neighbor who might be a stranger today, but could be a lifelong friend tomorrow. I know I can do that here because my grandfather did that. And my mother did that when she married my father and moved here from Philadelphia. And I know that because when my husband married me, he came here from Wyoming. And there is continued success in building the community. So, welcome to Utah. We’re glad to have you and we can’t wait to learn with and from you as we continue to grow in this beautiful state.