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I remember sitting in a drafty church hall back in 2004, watching a perfectly lovely lady—someone who had lived on our street for forty years—get turned away from our new youth gardening project because we hadn’t handled the background paperwork… Continue reading

I remember sitting in a drafty church hall back in ’94, watching a perfectly good community garden project wither away because we were too polite to tell our treasurer he was essentially a ghost. We all sat there, sipping lukewarm… Continue reading

I remember sitting in a drafty church hall back in ’94, watching a committee chair hand out those flimsy, mass-produced “Thank You” certificates to a group of people who had spent the entire weekend scrubbing graffiti off the local playground.… Continue reading

I remember sitting in a drafty church hall back in ’94, watching a perfectly good community garden project crumble simply because the three people running it felt completely unappreciated. They weren’t looking for fancy awards or glossy newsletters; they were… Continue reading

I remember sitting in a drafty community hall back in ’94, watching a lovely woman named Mrs. Higgins walk out the door after twenty minutes of silence. We had no plan, no notes, and no idea how to actually welcome… Continue reading

I remember sitting in a drafty church hall back in ’94, watching a perfectly good neighbourhood garden project fall apart because we’d asked for “general assistance” and ended up with three people who wanted to prune roses and zero people… Continue reading

I’ve sat through enough “community engagement seminars” to know they’re mostly a waste of good tea and even better time. They’ll tell you that you need a digital marketing strategy, a branded social media presence, and a complex onboarding software… Continue reading

I remember sitting in a drafty church hall back in ’94, watching a perfectly good neighbourhood garden project crumble simply because the three people in charge had burned themselves out by mid-July. They had all the passion in the world,… Continue reading

I remember sitting in a drafty church hall in 1994, staring at a stack of unfiled minutes while three different committee members argued over the cost of a single trestle table. Everyone tells you that community work is about “giving… Continue reading

I spent thirty-one years in local government, and if there is one thing I’ve learned, it’s that people make finding community work far more complicated than it needs to be. You’ll see these glossy websites and massive national databases promising… Continue reading