WESTERN MASS. –  When Colleen Goodhue moved to the Pioneer Valley from New Hampshire in the middle of a pandemic she found herself unsure of where and how to get involved with the community.

She said when she moved to the Valley in October, she found herself in a situation that she’d been in years prior when she’d moved to New Hampshire. “For five years when I moved from Brooklyn to New Hampshire, it took a long time to get involved in the community and figure out what is going on,” she said. “Moving during the pandemic is not ideal.”

Once she joined a variety of Facebook community groups, she noticed that there were quite a few people that had recently moved to the area in a similar situation. This, she said, is when she had the idea to create her own Facebook group, Pioneer Valley Newcomers. Within a week of creating the group, Goodhue said it had grown to more than 100 members.

Soon after the group was created, Goodhue said it had grown from just interactions within the group to virtual and socially distanced meetings. “We had a happy hour on Zoom. It’s nice to get to talk to people in the same boat. We’re planning a game night over Zoom,” she said. Additionally, people are still communicating on the Facebook page and some cyclists and others were trying to gather for socially distanced rides, runs or walks.

While the group is “still really new,” and she’s unsure “what it will morph into,” she has found it helpful, not just for those who recently moved to the Pioneer Valley but those who may have moved to the area within the last few years. “People who have been joining have been here for two years. Feeling like a newcomer can last for a long time in a small place,” she said.

In addition to inviting people to connect with one another, Goodhue said that she’s hoping to use the group as a platform for the community to connect with newcomers to the area. “I would love for anyone to connect with us. I have this ideal, I reached out to a local recreation director, I would love to have a local recreation department or library or knitting circle to come meet with us and let us know they’re there,” she said.

“I think it would be nice to have groups come and talk to us about what they do and invite us as well,” she continued. “It sucks being new, especially during a pandemic. Everyone is itching to be new and be a part of the community.”

She said it was especially difficult for newcomers to interact with the community given that COVID-19 had closed many spaces where people would traditionally interact with others such as arts spaces. “It’s tough to see all the stuff they want to do. A lot of people are excited to get involved in the arts, and they kind of have to wait,” she said.

Goodhue said the group is open to anyone new to the area, and to join all one has to do is go to the Facebook page Pioneer Valley Newcomers.