[jcims]

I left the comment simply because a mention of the role that the church has played here historically seemed conspicuously absent. The only explanation I have for the response is that it was the first comment. However, if you read through the replies, it does seem that some have a similar perspective to mine on what could be learned from the church in how to solve this problem.

For the other part of your question...i’ll proxy spinning a globe and poking it with this: Wikipedia tells me that Elopteryx was discovered in Romania near Transylvania.

I can't find any churches with websites in Transylvania proper, so I looked for ones in Transylvania County, North Carolina.

Looks like the Brevard Community Church is one of the larger ones. They handily have a website, and their events calendar is here: https://brevardcommunity.org/events/

Take a look at it. There's something going on almost every night of the month.

Now imagine yourself a 78 year old widow that lives alone in town with kids grown and moved out of state. You could endlessly surf the internet looking for opportunities to volunteer at random organizations and events that happen throughout the year, or you could just align yourself with this one organization and get a flower for mother's day every year, a young mother or two to mentor and a steady stream of vetted and coordinated opportunities for you to engage with the community and others.