It was Feb. 8, Super Bowl LX Sunday. The Rev. Hardy Kim and the Rev. Annanda Barclay, pastors at Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church, were hanging out after church at Redwood Square Park in downtown Sunnyvale.

They had invited their congregation to join them for “Lunch in the Neighborhood—a celebration of love and community in support of our immigrant neighbors.” Perhaps as many as 40 church members, friends and a few passersby turned up.

“For many weeks, we’ve all wrestled together with the hard news coming to us from across our nation—especially the horrifying details of unjust immigration enforcement activity,” said Kim.

“Pastor Annanda and I are … responding to a call from faith leadership networks in our area to show neighborly love on a day when many will be experiencing fear,” Kim continued.

Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice had invited Silicon Valley communities of faith—all faiths—to hold “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” gatherings to “share a message of love to drown out the hate” over Super Bowl weekend, Feb. 6-8.

“I don’t know what impact our actions had for anyone besides ourselves,” reflected Kim, whose parents emigrated from Korea to Canada, then to the Midwest. “But maybe the small things we do for each other as neighbors can help us remember that it’s not the government that decides, it’s not big corporate advertisers who decide, it’s us, a community and neighbors who decide who belongs.

“If we can do small things to make others feel welcome and stand up for the idea that everybody from all different nations and backgrounds has a place in our neighborhood, then in that moment, it’s important to live that out in even a really small way,” said Kim.

The Rev. Barclay, a native of Chicago, IL, finished a slice of pizza.

“It is a good human and Christian endeavor to reach out in care to all people in our community and strive for nothing less than our mutual dignity,” she observed.

“I’m grateful for a church … on a journey to figure out how we can be more welcoming and neighborly to everybody in Sunnyvale,” said Kim.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor is a column where we casually interview people we meet in Silicon Valley. The Won’t You Be My Neighbor column hopes to highlight what makes Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and the rest of the South Bay special — the people who live, work and play here.