Love Sweet Love

There is a small but mighty group of people in Burnaby who are doing incredible things with their time, creativity, and vision. These people have found a way to support hundreds and hundreds of people in this lower-mainland BC city, by promoting capacity-building, community engagement, new and exciting opportunities, avenues to equity, leadership and more. We are going to talk to some of the folks involved in a very unusual business. And… another aspect of this non-profit that is rather unusual is that ….most of these folks are retired. Most of these folks are former teachers, community school coordinators and other educators.

I can’t wait for you to hear about this business. Oh, and by the way – they are volunteers. And they are spending much of their retirement time volunteering in this business. Is it philanthropy? No, it is not. Is it charity? You’ll see that it is not at all. It is so much more. It is a deep commitment to equity -- for equitable access. They care about opportunities and hope. They care about possibilities and growth. Today I am going to talk to these guests about how this store came to be, what was the dream for this store, how they are making it come to life, and above all, WHY they are they so committed to this.

My two guests today are Peggy Woodruff and Emily Sutherland.

Bases website link: https://basesburnaby.ca/

The quote: "Community: The Structure of Belonging" by Peter Block

Here are two young people who are acting and living in loving ways, every day, even as they navigate their packed grade 12 schedules, maintaining their grades and expectations, high involvement in their extra-curricular activities and of course, their relationships with friends and family. I talk to them about how they manage all of this, where they learned this ethic from and WHY they give all of this time to the service and love of others.

We talk about their extra-curricular activities and what they learn from them, what skills they will take from these into their adult lives, what they learned when designing and leading their own after school programs for younger students, what tools do they use when they feel overwhelmed by society's issues and their own stresses, the importance of "voice" and what they want folks to know about teens.

Please join us for this inspiring, humbling conversation.

Article link:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28888284/

Quote link:
https://educationnorthwest.org/insights/its-adults-make-space-youth-voice

United Way (Halton and Hamilton):
https://www.uwhh.ca/empathy-in-action-the-definition-of-volunteering-2/#:~:text=25%20April%202022,hope%20during%20two%20difficult%20years
https://educationnorthwest.org/insights/its-adults-make-space-youth-voice

Today I have the great pleasure of bringing you the amazing work of Neighbourhood Houses.

When I think of Neighbourhood Houses, certain words spring to my mind: The first one is, welcome. Other words that come to mind are: inclusion, gathering, opportunity, capacity, possibility, involvement, assets, equity. The work done in Neighbourhood Houses is definitely fostering and spreading love. These folks truly act in service of others.

My guests are CEO, Antonia Beck and Board Member, Sue Montabello. We talk about how they got connected to Neighbourhood Houses; what kinds of services NH’s offer; how NH’s differ from recreation centres; the focus on assets, capacity-building, and leadership; the NH’s role in nurturing a civil society, stories of success and what we might see if we all focused more on love. It’s a beautiful conversation! I’m excited to share it with you.

Educator, facilitator, speaker Gayle Beavil, introduces “Love Sweet Love” – her appreciative inquiry on love and its power to make us, and society, move toward more happiness, health and harmony. Listen in to hear what kind of conversations you will hear and why, what the word needs now, is indeed, “Love Sweet Love”.