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| View from the community centre |
Grand Opening of Boyle Street Community League in the Boyle Street Plaza!
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| A ribbon with someone missing. |
They forgot to invite the previous Community League board members who worked so hard to make this building a reality. The "soft" opening, when the building was already in full swing but not all the equipment had arrived, was in March 2013 shortly after the new BSCL board was elected. The recent event, in conjunction with Culture Days, was the big splash.
Current BSCL President Thim Choy did not mention that the bulk of the work was done by Candas Jane Dorsey and Manon Aubry. New board members taking credit without actually having contributed to the building phase were Bob Vandergrift (current vice-president elected in March) and Linda Dumont. Manon Aubry was there, although she no longer serves on the board, and continuing treasurer Woon Lam was present but notably absent were
- Candas Jane Dorsey
- Timothy J. Anderson
- Mei Hung
- Nancy Chan
- Meg Furler
- Benjamyn MacKay
- Zach Lindop
- Allan Kwan
- Alf White
- Carol Neumann
From the planning for the opening that started in 2012, I know there was a list of people to be invited. I know that no invitation was extended to some of the people named above, despite their huge volunteer efforts over the past 3 years.
Of all the people present at the ribbon ceremony, the person who deserved to cut the ribbon was Manon Aubry. At least she got to speak with media. I heard her on CBC radio. She was gracious and well-spoken and, without singling anyone out, acknowledged the many contributions made by the volunteers.
What kinds of volunteer efforts? Well, this facility is a complicated partnership with the YMCA and the City. All kinds of issues around how the facility would be shared, operated, funded had to be worked out. Budgets. The lease. Staffing models. Hiring. Decisions about the design, the fixtures, the furnishings, the signage. Washing every dish and utensil, inflating volleyballs, learning how to operate the moveable walls. We took classes in operating the booking system, updated our first aid training, took workshops in Non-Violent Crisis Intervention. And for the first months of the centre, I was the facility monitor on a volunteer basis one night a week - the go-to person on the site for any issues from malfunctioning equipment to inebriated community members in medical crisis. After the election in March I was replaced with paid staff. The principle of community involvement seemed to weaken.
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| The community table - CJ Dorsey was on the committee but not invited to the ribbon-cutting. |
It is a disgrace that Thim Choy and the current board did not invite the people who did the work. Maybe if any of them lived in Boyle Street...
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| Candas Jane Dorsey files her candidacy papers to run for Ward 6 Councillor. Not being invited to the BSCL opening meant she could attend the 104th Street reverse candidates forum! |
Another sad example of how many will be happy to eat the bread but not grind the grain. I am not sure that there will ever be a way to adequately compensate those who actually do the work. For me, the politico's need to be the background but they never are. :-( All those who count know how the work was accomplished. Rewards in Heaven? I suppose, as always, it seems so.
ReplyDeleteNew Volunteer with the Community League and unfortunately was out of town for the Celebrations - but I hear (and saw photos) of the great time ! I am sure many people in our community are very grateful for ALL those who have contributed (whether it was one minute or thousands of hours) to build this new facility and keep the community league going. As a new resident of Boyle Street I would like to give thanks to all - I did not do much of the grinding but I have certainly been enjoying the bread so far. I hope to see more of the grain grinders and the bread eaters at the next community event!
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