1. How long have you lived in Hillhurst-Sunnyside? What do you like about living here?
We have lived in Sunnyside just over a decade. We spent 3 years looking for the perfect community to raise our family in and knew we found the right street when we viewed our house days before the annual block party. The amount of activity on the street and neighbours using their front porches to interact with each other was enticing. I was pleasantly surprised when we moved in and received baked goods and welcome gifts from so many neighbors.
2. How did you get involved in volunteering in our community?
I was asked to help plan the block party, then volunteering to coach kids soccer, next organizing a few ladies dinners and then I was solicited to help plan Neighbour Day events. What started as social duty soon became spending time with friends.
3. What kind of volunteer activities have you done?
With encouragement from a neighbour I helped co-organize the painting of #undertherainbow and for my own enjoyment I began documenting and promoting garage art in Sunnyside on an Instagram page @sunnyside_garage_art. More recently as my children are traveling further on their own I have felt a calling to advocate for safe protected infrastructure for all abilities, mobility and have also begun attending HSCA planning meetings. Most recently I have joined the team helping design the new Local Area Plan.
4. What would you tell others in the community about volunteering? What do you like most about volunteering in the community?
The best part about volunteering in Sunnyside and Hillhurst is the people you meet. Our community is chock-full of passionate, engaged, talented people. So many of you have such diverse bodies of knowledge and choose to give your time to make our neighbourhood better each and every day. When pulling the wisdom from a room of Hillhurst Sunnyside volunteers, the lived experience and accumulated education is an immense asset to whatever we are taking on. It also makes for engaging conversations. I am constantly overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and effort people put into making our community great.
5. What is a hidden gem in the community you have discovered and would like to share?
My favorite thing to do in our community is to walk the back alleyways. I so appreciate the neighbors who take on placemaking to really activate this space. It's the raspberry bushes and rhubarb people plant in a communal place with the intention to share. It's the unwanted gems that are placed with a 'free' sign next to them in hopes of being someone else's newfound treasure. And it's our impressive garage door art gallery that grows every year. There are so many neat spaces if you take the time to explore off the front streets. We really have something special here that people come from all over Calgary to see.