Summer is a moment of new energy and growth. We spend more time immersed in our communities, both physical spaces and human networks. For those of us in Montreal, we have the great privilege of doing so on the unceded Indigenous lands of the Kanien’keha:ka nation, who are recognized as the custodians of the lands and waters on which we gather.
This year in particular, we’re even more appreciative of our ability to meet loved ones in green spaces, discover new corners of the city, check in on our neighbours, find projects or causes to support, and plant seeds in the soil to watch them take root and thrive.
As individuals, we choose where we pour our attention. In doing so, we may begin to notice things that have been there all along.
How has your attention shifted?
Checking in with yourself and your community – whether that is the Roulant, your neighbourhood, or another network – enables you to tap into beauty or to see the gaps where care is needed most. This empowers you to determine what role you can actively play in helping your community thrive.
COMMUNITY IN BLOOM
Many of you shower the Roulant with your attention in order to care for your community, to create a beautiful network of people, or to strive for social change. This takes many forms and transforms over time, an intricate ecosystem of individuals whose collective attention makes it possible to address the complex social challenges of food insecurity and social isolation.
A volunteer participates twice in a school semester, or multiple times a week in retirement, contributing to the 22,000+ hours given each year; a staff member gains a wealth of experience to the benefit of the Roulant community, and moves on to apply what they’ve learned elsewhere; after a very first meal delivery or a year of receiving Caring Calls, a client’s loved ones make a donation out of appreciation; a community member opens a newsletter to discover what’s happening in their neighbourhood, or to join the 145+ donors who give monthly to sustain the Roulant mission and care for the community they hold dear.
Where do you see yourself?
To trace the roots of the Roulant community is to follow the path of the bees and the rivers and the wind. The cross-pollination of people and communities is the crux of our story.
AN ECOSYSTEM OF CARE
In the same way, The Roulant is one of many in an ecosystem of organizations working towards the goal of community care and social change. Given the great privilege we have of working on this land, and the responsibility towards reparations, we are shifting toward building partnerships and sharing resources, lifting up other organizations who deserve more of our attention, and taking action to bring justice, equity, diversity and inclusion into our practices.
We continue to cross-pollinate with many partners, including Partage & Solidarité and the Native Friendship Centre of Montreal to distribute thousands of frozen meals and organic produce to marginalized populations facing food insecurity, and with Travail Sans Frontières to welcome youth facing barriers in our urban gardens. We’re moving full steam ahead with incorporating the goals of our 2020-23 Strategic Plan into each decision we make, and are excited to share new developments with you very soon.
Your involvement with your community makes these partnerships and projects a reality.
ATTENTION AS PRACTICE
Attention is a practice, and requires continued commitment in the face of so many other things vying for our attention. This summer, as we continue to strengthen our roots as an organization and address the needs of a growing community, we commit to tuning in to the beauty and the gaps in our ecosystem to better serve the community. We commit to collaborating with other organizations to break down barriers to inclusion, increase access to healthy, local, organic food for marginalized populations, and address social issues like poverty, diverse representation, and sustainable agriculture.
We hope that you will give your attention to these things too, whether that means checking in around how you would like to engage within the Roulant community, or looking into your neighbourhoods, networks, or local organizations to see where you can best lift up and nourish. After all, our communities are stronger when they are interconnected.
Already a monthly donor? Contact Melanie today about how you can deepen your impact.
Illustration by Dre Illustrations, check out her website or Instagram