Highlights From Our Final Party!

Try snapping your fingers together. Have you done it? It feels like it all happens in an instant, the sudden “click” sound of your finger crashing against your palm as you let it slip past your thumb. If you watch those fingers in motion, they sort of blur as they do, showing you exactly how fast they’re actually moving. Isn’t it so amazing that this simple snapping of your fingers is about how quick time seems to move by for some? I know I’m certainly feeling that right now. Somehow, I’m two months older than I used to be and Lucca’s Plant-Based Cooking Program is in its final week. It legitimately felt like yesterday that I posted my first social media post on the Climate Action London Facebook group or was building the blog or meeting the tenants for the first time. I relish in these moments because it can be so easy to pass them by without reflecting on them, and they somehow slip away out of recollection. To commemorate these experiences and cherish them is a part of living life and the memories you take away from it all are your souvenirs of what went on. It’s also one of our best ways of proving to ourselves that we have grown as people and that the experiences we have are shaping our lives forever.

I’m honestly of the opinion that Lucca’s Plant-Based Cooking Adventure had a positive effect on everyone it graced and allowed everyone involved in it to grow, even if it’s just a little. That is so evident in the impact that we’ve had on tenants. Sometimes it’s the most subtle things, like having a tenant slowly open up to you and gradually share more about their life, and sometimes it’s much larger things, like being handed a little brown gift bag with a handmade apron with your name embroidered on it as a token of gratitude. But these are all things Lucca and I noticed while working first-hand with the tenants from the very first day we arrived on the job. And you know, as I’m writing this I’m getting quite melancholy because you truly do begin to develop some level of attachment to the tenants you work with because you’re just so invested in make the experience as pleasant and worthwhile for them as possible. I feel like a bonded with some of the tenants quite well and I know that Lucca can certainly say the same as well. Our most faithful Thursday class participant made Thursday classes so fun to look forward too, and they were always so charming. That participant was one of the most passionate, energetic, and friendly people I’ve ever met, and I genuinely enjoyed their presence around me. Honestly, I enjoyed the presence of all of our cooking class participants! And that’s the thing you have to remember, these tenants are people too. And of course they’re people, but they’re people with heart, with courage, with strength, with kindness, and they have a soul. The tenants at any of Indwell’s locations across Ontario all have their own stories of hardship that landed them in supportive housing, but the fact that they are still lively and own their identity as freely as they’d like really speaks to the magic at Woodfield Gate. That’s the thing that never shakes you when you do community work, people just have this air or aura to them when they’re so down to earth that is alluring. I don’t want to romanticize their very real struggles in life, but this is literally what it means to feel a sense of community and feeling a complete destruction of all the classist norms that stratify us. And even in saying that, I just don’t think I can do this feeling justice in explaining it with words. Volunteer in a soup kitchen or at a shelter of some kind, and really get to meet people as they are. Alternatively, try befriending your neighbours for more than just gossip and common courtesy (as the stereotypes would tell you), and really get to know them as people. Sure, they’re the same people that you work together with to shovel the snow off the road when the cars can’t drive through it, but it’s that opportunity to bond with them in that moment and perhaps the chance for hot chocolate after that makes the difference between society and human-level interaction.

Perhaps one of the greatest lessons that Lucca’s Plant-Based Cooking Adventure can bring us is the idea that for the most part, one should “build bridges, not burn them”. People are one of our most important rapports to the world and they can act as a pillar of support in our lives. You might argue that after this program maybe I or Lucca won’t see some of the tenants around again, and you might be right in that to some extent, but you forget that the impact that someone has on your life is never forgotten. You choose whether to maintain the bridge or burn it, the only difference is that one supports you and one scars you. And I have learned so much from working in this program you cannot believe it! Sure, my job title is “digital marketing specialist” but it was far from that, for better or for worse. But through having such an important, hands-on role in this project, by taking on so many tasks that are outside of my comfort zone, and by interacting face-to-face with the tenants and staff at Indwell, I gained so many skills and abilities out of this. I gained a new set of perspectives on life and a new-found respect for plant-based food, while also somehow strengthening my digital and interpersonal skills to another level. And it’s funny, I’m still not done growing as a person! That’s because we honestly never will stop growing. As you grow you gain more connections and many of those connections are to people and if you want to keep growing, keep those people in your network. Just like a plant with its root network, severing a root doesn’t do it much good, does it? So in learning so much from this project, I owe so much of that to the people I worked with and the tenants I got to know, so who am I to sever the roots?

And it’s with that, the program has come to an end. It was such a sweet finale, to see Lucca off at the end of our Thursday class work day, to wish well to all of our program participants, and to have had such an incredible final party. The turnout was great and we had such beaming faces by the end of it all. Smiling faces. If there’s one aspect of the legacy of this adventure that I want to highlight the most, it’s the fact that we made so many people smile. Spreading joy, food literacy, cooking skills, tools against food insecurity, climate justice, and geographical awareness is what we set out to do and judging by what the tenants and Indwell staff felt, they think we did a phenomenal job. Lucca’s Plant-Based Adventure was transformative for some, influential for many, and I am so glad that I saw the advertisement for this job. Never in a million years would I have thought that I would be here, writing this blog post, but something tells me that was meant to be. And something else tells me that more of such community projects are coming ahead for both Lucca and I. Another thing also tells me I made a friend in Lucca, and if that isn’t a perfect resolution to an adventure, I have no idea what is! Whether you’re more eager to try plant-based food or not, we are so happy that we were able to engage you all on this blog and on social media, you have no idea how much your support means to us. Thank you everyone, community partners and all, for everything. :)

- Omar Abdelraheem

(Special thanks to Lucca for teaching me all kinds of kitchen and cooking skills and for the boundless laughs, and special thanks to Lisa for your continued support and lively conversations. It was a pleasure working with you both throughout this project. Thank you also to our community partners at Indwell, London Environment Network, and First St. Andrews United Church that made this project possible.)