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Meet 200 neighbours in one easy step
When you are new in town like we are, it can be hard to get to know your neighbours. In a big city like Toronto, at times you may not know them even if you’ve lived beside them for years. But if one of your neighbours happens to be The Salvation Army’s Meighen Health Centre, they know how to throw a BBQ that opens the way for neighbours of all vintages to say hi!
We live near the Davisville Park tennis courts so on the way to the subway station or when we take the dogs for a walk, we pass the two large red brick buildings that are a little east of the Davisville Junior Public School. The lilacs planted there have finished blooming, but their enticing perfume was recently replaced by a banner that invited everyone to a Neighbourhood BBQ on June 24th. Earlier that afternoon, I met Adrienne Osborne on the sidewalk outside of The Salvation Army Meighen Retirement Residence as she personally invited all of the passersby to the BBQ.
Adrienne is the volunteer coordinator at the Meighen Manor long-term care centre and I regretted having to turn down her kind invitation, but I was on my way home with groceries for a dinner guest that night. When I got home, my husband was back early from a business trip with news that our guest had cancelled dinner with us. Given the option between cooking and eating someone else’s cooking, I can be counted on to support my fellow cooks! So Brad and I quickly opted for meeting our neighbours up the street and sampling their wares.
When we got there the kids had already had their faces painted, been charmed with balloon animals, worked up an appetite in the Bouncy Castle and honed their mini-put skills. An assortment of chairs and picnic tables were filled with people enjoying their hotdogs, hamburgers, ice cream and strawberry shortcake in the park-like yard. We were a bit unsure of joining in late, but we were warmly welcomed by Major Dennis Brown who is the Executive Director of Meighen Health Centre. After a great chat with him and Adrienne, we joined in by filling a plate and planting ourselves at a table.
Over 200 neighbours dropped in for the BBQ that the Meighen Health Centre staff and residents hosted. We are a little shy so we didn’t meet all of them, but we did enjoy the camaraderie of Des O’Shannessy who has lived across the street for years and Doreen Davis who has been a resident of the Meighen for a year and a half. It was a great day for a BBQ and the weather perfectly matched the warm, gentle atmosphere everyone enjoyed as they got to know one another.
The Salvation Army has been providing long-term care and housing for seniors in this same spot for more than 50 years. Whether or not they have a connection with the Salvation Army, seniors have been choosing the Meighen Centre for its affordable living accommodations and the sense of community there. As their neighbours, we were able to get a sense of that commitment to community when they opened their doors to us and invited us to become a part of their lives.
It would be a little hard to return the favour and invite them to our little apartment, but we know some faces now and even more importantly, we know that we are welcome to drop in and say hi! The Meighen Health Centre’s Residence and Manor are no longer well-maintained, institutional buildings that we pass in our daily lives. They are the homes of our neighbours ... some we’ve met and some are still to be known.
Brad and I are both going to do some volunteering, and although we haven’t told them yet, at least one of our dogs is getting signed up for pet therapy visiting. We think it’s about time that the dogs started giving back to the community ... besides it is the neighbourly thing to do!
Debbie Falk/June 25, 2010
((Pictures for the Town Crier to choose from below))
