I recently found myself at a rather interesting point on the space-time continuum where a most interesting (and important) conversation, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say a series of conversations, was taking place. Once time has allowed me to think about and digest what was expressed, I plan to share some of the conversation, some of the questions posed and what answers/thoughts were called into my mind. Because the point of this conversation was to begin the process of engaging the entire community in this conversation.

It seems that some of our fellow citizens, when looking around at the state of affairs found themselves (quite understandably) less than pleased with the state of poverty, and all its trappings, in the city of Abbotsford. At the beginning of this past June at the Ramada Plaza the Frazer Valley Community Conference 2006 was held on the topic: “Creating Community Movements for Change”. The speaker was Mr. Paul Born of Tamarack: An Institute for Community Engagement who was not only an inspiring speaker, but had the advantage of having what he was saying make sense. That what we have been doing has not been working, has in fact allowed things to get worse. That if we want to address issues of local concern such as poverty, we have to do it as fully engaged communities since that is the way to act effectively. That achieving a purpose requires using purposefulness to power and motivate change, creating movements for change. www.tamarackcommunity.ca/index.php

Our displeased fellow citizens, seeking to effect positive changes in our community, have sought out the expertise and experience that Tamarack has built and continues building with communities across Canada. As part of pursing this working relationship with Tamarack, and through them with other Canadian cities seeking to make positive changes, Vibrant Abbotsford was born. At the time I attended the conversation being written about, this newborn was less than a week old and taking his/her first steps out and about our community, seeking to engage us all in creating change in our community.

So why am I writing this? I look around our community and see poverty and its attributes such as homelessness, hungry children, the desperate need for the local food bank, mental illness and addiction, families with young children eating at the Salvation Army, human life reduced to the cheapest commodity on the planet, pain and hopelessness – to name but a few. I see how badly Abbotsford needs to come together as a community to create the change needed and seek to knock over that first domino. To start the chain reaction of falling dominos that, gathering speed and inertia, will help power Vibrant Abbotsford’s spread through the community, engaging the community in creating not only the movement for change but CHANGE itself.

I also want to answer the last question posed to us during that conversation – do I want to, am I willing to give of myself, in order to bring positive change to my community, to work at turning our community into Vibrant Abbotsford. The answer is YES; I will stand up and be counted. So it is that I pass the question along – Look around. What do you see? What do you want to see, what matters to you? Will you be part of Vibrant Abbotsford?