Campbell River 2025 Reading Circle – Infectious Generosity, written by Chris Anderson (Head of TED)
Some pathways are clear: I’m here, I want to go there, I want to go this way. This year’s Campbell River Reading Circle was more of a meander: I want to gather interesting and interested community members together to read something meaningful, I want to create a space where discussions lead to connections, and I want people to find their own ways to wherever they want to go.
I read through a few books before Infectious Generosity found me, I connected with the Campbell River Community Foundation team, who led me to the Neighbourhood Small Grant program, then I reached out to Coho Books to place an order for 30 copies of Infectious Generosity, then put together a list of potential participants and started inviting people to join Campbell River 2025 Reading Circle. The invitation let people know we’d be gathering as a large group once at the beginning, then going into smaller groups of 5 – 6 people to meet up three or four times, then reconvening again as a large group to share in what we discussed and learned.
I offered suggestions for discussions, but largely encouraged groups to self-organize and let conversations flow in whatever way made sense – emotions, finances, politics, religion, culture, family, hopes, and dreams could all be part of Infectious Generosity. Some groups met in parks, some at local businesses, some in community gardens, some people formed friendships, some people couldn’t make reading this book at this time a priority – all of this was okay, as the outcomes were not pre-determined and there was no one way to participate.
What Campbell River 2025 Reading Circle created was a sense of connection, conversations centered on hope and generosity, more people sharing messages and concepts of uplifting one another, and a community of people who want to infect ourselves and each other with generosity.
“…yearn for beauty, wonder, laughter, transcendence – all elements of enchantment. Those who can enchant offer a gift of immense value.”
“No one is suggesting that individual acts of kindness should be a substitute for tackling systemic issues…If we don’t practice generosity with each other, systems change has no chance. Every act of generous engagement…can start someone on a journey of immense consequence.”
Thanks to each and every reader of Infectious Generosity, to the author, Chris Anderson, and to Campbell River Community Foundation’s Neighbourhood Small Grants program and the people. 💛
