24th Avenue Blue Zone (Draft Two)
How do inspirational events start? The seeds of the idea were sown in casual passing conversations. When one of our neighbours was successful in receiving funding through the Neighbourhood Grants program, our project began.
As a first step, about ten of us met to discuss ideas for how our group and how best to use the support of the Small Neighborhood Grants program.
Many stated a strong community was important. We wanted this group be inclusive, an open door for all to come and enjoy an eveningl doing a fun activity, building social connections, a strong sense of community and a sense of wellbeing and joy. How often we would meet proved to be more challenging. Some felt that the meetings should be weekly, while others felt the gatherings would be more successful if held only once per month with a different host location and activity for each meeting. After considerable discussion the decision was made to try the once per month social activity at rotating locations and hosts.
With these thoughts in mind, we named our group the 24th Avenue Blue Zone as a nod to the Blue Zones throughout the world where people were believed to live longer, healthier lives, including but not limited to, having a purpose to their lives, managing stress relief, and maintaining social networks and friendships. The name fit.
We settled on watercolor painting for our first activity and it was a blast. We were a group of about twenty neighbourhood ladies, broken into two groups allowing people to mingle with those they knew and others they didn’t. The more we painted, the more we learned about each other, the more we laughed and created connections. This group of ours included a broad spectrum of knowledgeable women with a myriad of backgrounds, occupations and interests and it was wonderful to hear about their lives.
The next month, the activity was dried floral arranging with an artist in Aldergrove, who grew dozens of different flowers and plants on her property. From this abundance and variety of flowers we were lead through the aspects of creative dried floral arrangements using height, color and texture. This was a thoughtful class through which our selection of flowers brought out what was individual in us all. Every arrangement seemed to reveal more about the designer, their style and choice of flowers.
Our third activity, in anticipation of the Christmas season, was spent painting Christmas ornaments for the tree, drinking tea, eating goodies and sharing memories of Christmases past and the music of our era. Many laughs over songs from the past, what we were like at that age and how we carved our path to the present. It was evident that the sense of community we were hopeful of creating was succeeding, our neighborhood has developed a sense of kinship, trust and kindness. Although our grant had come to an end, our regular arts and crafts evenings together will continue.
Future ideas were also discussed at different points in this journey. Our neighbourhood has plans for barbeques with spouses and family members, and activities at specific times of the year, such as a hay wagon ride on our street at Christmas singing Christmas carols. While strengthening the immediate bonds of community in our neighborhood with these meetings, there also exists the possibility of doing more for the community at large, one example being offered was making crafts to give to seniors in care homes during the holidays to help reduce the feeling of isolation. Another suggestion that is planned is a neighborhood borrowing library, where books could be rotated and enjoyed. The thoughts for community inclusion were and are percolating!
We wish to thank the Neighborhood Small Grant programme for the opportunity for all of us to participate in these activities and become a cohesive community.
