Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Community

A friend of mine added me to an east end mom Facebook group a few days ago (something I'd never join on my own) and I've been idly browsing the posts in my spare time. It's a big group -- somewhere in the neighbourhood of 1200 people -- but I was impressed to see that everyone's posts were greeted with helpfulness and warmth.

On Sunday morning I noticed one woman's post asking to borrow a bassinet for the summer. She had an offer within 30 minutes. Within an hour, there was a second reply offering a free bassinet to keep, the only stipulation being that she too pass it on when she was done with it. The woman who posted the request responded that she'd already agreed to borrow the first one, so I figured I'd see if it was still available and sure enough it was. I offered to pay her something for it because I know how expensive bassinets are, but she politely declined and again just asked that I eventually pass it on. Spence and I drove to pick it up tonight and had a good chat with her and her husband. The bassinet itself is in excellent shape and will be absolutely perfect to have at Twin Ponds this summer before we eventually upgrade to a crib.

All this to say I'm really glad to be part of such a generous and helpful community. Hopefully I'll be able to contribute in a more meaningful way in the near future too. I guess community does exist in big urban areas after all.

4 comments:

  1. There you go!! Small towns within big cities!!!

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  2. What a nice story! Tony & I have certainly found in our travels that approaching others with a generous spirit and open heart often results in them reciprocating our intentions; even in places like "Big Bad Toronto" I choose to believe there are more good people than bad, and that kindness is available if we are open to it. Knowing you as I do, I'm sure you guys will give that bassinet to another who will put it to good use... but first you've gotta enjoy it for yourselves!

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    Replies
    1. There are definitely more good people than bad. So nice to see...

      This FB group's really working out well for me. I got a restaurant reco from one of the posts and it turns out the place is only a block away. Delicious Thai food (although I'm sure it's not authentic by any means, it's very good from a Canadian Thai restaurant point of view...). Hooray!

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