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Creating a community |
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Living in Saugeen Shores we know something about welcome. We are a seasonal community in many ways, welcoming summer residents and visitors each year. Planning begins well before the season arrives, as bed and breakfasts get booked, cottages rented, trailers prepared and the town orients itself around the next tourist wave. I get the same sense this week as Pumpkinfest approaches. Plans were set out months ago, dating back to last year. Many things make Pumpkinfest a success; good planning and organizing are essential. Rain or shine, the event goes on and people are made to feel welcome. A good spirit floats in the air and this grand fall fair shows why thousands attend. Lately, I’ve been wondering about how to build community. There are theories, skills and infrastructure that help to make a community emerge and continue to grow. The growth I’m concerned about does define itself numerically. What makes a vital community for me are the little gestures of goodness, the subtle ways of caring, the deliberate intentions to welcome someone. When a business owner follows up with a phone call to a customer after an unusual occurrence in their store, that creates community. When a neighbour offers a word of encouragement to someone down the street, community happens. When efforts are made to bridge differences in our area (how long I have lived here, where I work, if I am single or married, what street I live on, my sexual orientation, where I travel – if at all), relationships can grow. When someone who is vulnerable has a friend to count on, a community exists. We live in a wonderful place. It is beautiful and offers a way of living many of us find appealing. But there are gaps, cracks and a certain brokenness we live with in Saugeen Shores too. Some people find themselves living in the middle of one of those cracks. All it takes is one to make a difference for that person. You may remember the story of the girl at the seaside who is throwing starfish back into the ocean. Hundreds of starfish are washed upon the shore. A man comes by and asks her, “Why do you keep doing that? Look at how many there are! What difference are you making anyway?” The girl bends over, picks a starfish up and throws it back into the ocean. She turns to the man and says, “It made a difference to that one.”
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It seems to me that community is created one relationship at a time, one act at a time and with one gesture in a given moment. We can welcome all kinds of people in our seasonal opportunities offered here, but if we are not intentionally caring for each other, then we will continue to be just a wonderful place. A place can be wonderful without having a community as part of it. Pumpkinfest is a great way to build community. Opportunities also exist in our neighbourhoods, on the sidewalk, at the Care Centre, at a bar, on the telephone, in the hospital and at the heart of who we are as residents of Saugeen Shores. Community is created one heart at a time. The first heart to change and open up may be my own. Scrolling stops when you move your mouse inside the scroll area. You can click on the ads for more
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