Vancouver Heart-Mind Celebration at Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House

The Vancouver Heart-Mind Early Years Initiative was a project of Windows of Opportunity in collaboration with the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education. Funding for this initiative was provided by Success by 6 and BC Ministry of Children and Family Development.

March 28th was the Vancouver Heart-Mind celebration held at Mount Pleasant Neighborhood House. It was a fun-filled morning where group members from various communities and organizations got together to share their implemented projects and told their stories. Each project was different and unique, yet all brought us feeling of kindness and compassion. It was amazing and very inspiring!

(L-R: Ana Lorena, Emi, Diane, Virginia, Jennie)

Singing and Dancing with Vanessa Richards after the welcoming:


Vanessa Richards conducts free drop-in choir sessions in Vancouver’s Woodward’s complex. Yes, that's right - it's free for everyone. No experience required.

Here are just some of the projects that other participating organizations presented:

(Pillow Full of Feelings by the Vancouver Public Library)

(Storybooks from West Coast Child Care Resource Centre)

 

(Heart-Mind Bookmarks by Cedar Cottage Neighborhood House)

 

(Quilting Our Stories by Gordon Neighborhood House)

 

(Hearts in the Community by VSB Strong Start Tillicum Annex and Queen Alexandra Elementary School)

(Helen Davidson giving the closing ceremony speech.)
See the full gallery at https://www.flickr.com/photos/34035630@N06/sets/72157651272467310/  

At the end of the celebration, each of us were given a copy of the community photo journal that was compiled by Project Manager, Helen Davidson, and by the Dalai Lama Center team. It contains photos and stories from each organization of how they implemented their project. This was a wonderful keepsake to share our memories.



I am also a blog contributor for Frog Hollow Neighborhood House. Original blog post can be found on the Frog Hollow Community Connections Blog.