If you build it, will they actually come?

I was speaking with a colleague in Ontario this afternoon. She is an extremely active community organizer and she helps other local neighbourhood groups get set up and get access to the resources they need to pull together street parties, concerts, community gardens, and more. Or, at least that’s what she used to do, before the pandemic. 

This week in Ontario, they are under “stay at home” orders. Again. The schools are closed, the restaurants are shuttered and my friend was reminiscing about the months when people would go out into the street and bang on pots and pans to show their support for essential workers. They don’t do that anymore - she can’t remember when they stopped.  More than anything our conversation centered around the fact that even the most engaged community organizers in her community seem to have lost their enthusiasm to plan ahead, likely because so much remains unknown. There almost certainly won’t be street parties this summer but we wondered, even if events were organized and approved, would anybody come? 

The LifeSchoolHouse in NS has had a unique opportunity to test the act of community reintegration before many other provinces. When we started gathering in person again we noticed that there were several different reactions. Many folks jumped at the chance to sit six feet apart in sanitized chairs in a chilly backyard just to be able to talk to people they weren’t related to! Others trickled back slowly over the next few months, eager to join in but needing time to build back the trust. Some even spoke to us about how they felt they needed to “practice” their social skills again. Turns out it isn’t like riding a bike. Just last Sunday I spoke to a woman who joined a Cheese Making 101 session at LifeSchoolHouse in Dartmouth who said this was the first time she had been outside her home/backyard in 11 months but she knew she needed to re-engage because the longer she waited the harder it was going to be. She was glad she came.

This week we have prepared our Annual Report from 2020 which you can read HERE. We are really proud of all we have accomplished in service of our community and feeling quite fortunate that we’ve been able to draw people back together, in person, when so many others cannot. Based on what we have learned and continue to learn from our community it really feels like small, intimate gatherings need to keep (start?) happening everywhere, soon! Reintegrating, building trust, working out the social cobwebs takes time and we all need safe spaces to practice being in community again. It is my hope that many of you reading this will find a way to use your space, your energy, your time and your talents to create the healing spaces our communities need. Anything we can do to help - just reach out!

Written by Jennifer DeCoste

Members of the LifeSchoolHouse community gather in the backyard as COVID restrictions begin to ease in NS.