Dreaming of a comfortable and safe place for everyone
Bringing the community together
Dreaming of a comfortable and safe place for everyone
Our next Summer Story comes from Alex House - written by Shelley Cranstone (Director, Community Development).
When the request for a summer story came, one person came to mind immediately at Alex House. Bo Long has been a long time, active and very dedicated volunteer at the House. Her story began with Alex House in 2010, when she was new to the community when she and her husband were walking at Crescent Beach. She said she saw Camp Alex and out of curiosity decided to explore. A sign for a group Tea & Chat piqued her interest and she said that “[with her husband], they walked into the office and joined that very day.” She described that she didn’t know what the word ‘chat’ meant but wanted to find out what this was.
Bo was intrigued by the history and the stories that Camp Alex held. As a newcomer to Canada, she describes how she found language to be a barrier and noticed that others in her community found the same thing. Through being an active participant and now leader of the Tea and Chat Group, she has continued to invite community that share her language, and other languages and cultures together to ‘chat’ and now create art together.
Bo describes that volunteering is a very important part of her life. She shared that Alex House is a good place to give and receive, which she feels is important to find a place to do that in community. She has continued to be a very big part of many offerings at Alex House including Tea and Chat weekly meetings, community lunches, events, Alex Fest to name a few.
Within the last year, Bo has become a part of an Anti-Racism Collaborative (ARC), a project which is responding to racism and hate in the local community in emerging, meaningful and impactful ways. Bo shared that one of her dreams for the community’s future is that everyone can “feel comfortable to share and be who they are and that we can celebrate diversity together!”
This summer Bo shared a seed of an idea with the ARC Collaborative, which has been germinating and will come to life this fall. She wants to invite the community to learn the art of Chinese dancing together. She envisions a performance that is multicultural, inclusive, FUN and open to all of the generations. Bo’s ongoing words, “I want to do what I can, always and share culture by inviting and learning!”
Bo’s parting words in our discussion “I have joined a beautiful community. I am very thankful to join Penny (Executive Director), Alex House and the ARC group. This is very important to me. I am so so thankful!”
This is a story that continues…..
A few words about Bo’s connection with Alex House from Penny Bradley, Executive Director,
Bo is absolutely a community champion! In addition to her collaborations with Alex House, Bo is very active in the community, supporting several organizations and initiatives over the years. Bo reconnected with Alex House at a grassroots mental wellness innovation session convened by Together South Surrey White Rock. Bo, and her daughter shared the impacts of racism on Chinese Canadians in our community which helped spark the Anti-Racism Collaborative project. Bo is deeply committed to building meaningful connections in our shared community, where the words ‘not possible’ don’t exist. With Bo everything is possible, and it is contagious! I’m personally grateful for Bo’s willingness to walk with us in our anti-racism work, and look forward to lots of new opportunities for engagement.
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