Sunday dinners, "emergency meetings" of the BBQ Committee, and many descendant gatherings started over 20 years ago in response to the lack of support provided by institutions to the international student community, and broadened substantially from there to meet demand. Each gathering is extremely informal, first quietly tackling isolation, culture-shock, and mental health for students, soon thereafter helping with essays, resumes and shopping. It grew organically to include all demographics wanting to connect, and taking care of those things institutionally lacking. Two current members are over 100 years old, and were born in Canada.
“The entire point is to bring people together in one way or another. And so it's with random grouping of people.”
Their group has been incredibly effective at fostering places to forge bonds and create community, but there is just so much need for it and they are stretched thin, and, after a major highway accident last year have been currently incapable of keeping their former pace. They ask that others try to copy them, go have a potluck in a public space, go bring a neighbor cookies, go play volleyball in a park and invite passers by. Make the world a welcome place for people.
“We're not an organization, we're a dis-organization. There's a truth to that. We make it happen. We make it all happen. But we don’t own it. We're trying to get people to copy us. We're already way past our capacity. We pay for it all out of our own pocket. Yeah. We look after about 1800 people - and by extension, around the world, thousands more. We are not there for their daily routines, and may not even speak with someone for years, but we are immediately there for them and those they care about in their hour of need, whether here, or around the world.”
Their goal is to create spaces where people feel at home, like themselves, where they feel included and supported; places where people can make bonds that nurture empathy and joy.
“You do not build tolerance with segregation. You just simply can't. It only gives you a chance to think within your own group and come up with more reasons to divide. The consequence of our contemporary social division is bearing its foul fruit around the world, and is an existential threat to all we know and love. Our only rules have been respect and tolerance for each other. That's it. That's all it takes to end this division. And so we have members from at least 62 countries, over 20 religions, dozens of languages, ages from 1 to 100, and from a spectrum of sexual and gender identities. When you remove the barriers between people, you remove the division.”
Their events and movements are a patchwork of interests, events and heartfelt words, making little groups of people who would otherwise be unconnected, come together in community. A typical gathering ranges between 20 and 60 people, and over the years and with all types, there have been over 1,000 gatherings, from regular Sunday dinners at their home, to games nights, volleyball meet, and tobogganing sessions.
“It was simple, you have a ball? A park? You invite people to come play with you. It's as easy as that. And then okay, we started bringing chips, and we started bringing water, and eventually we brought paint and canvases because some people didn't want to play volleyball. We had extra sports equipment. Yeah. Coffee and Tea station. It got big. It was, it was like, we want people to do that kind of thing. We want people as they're having a barbecue to invite people as they walk by. Because that's what we did, and it was fun. You play a game and you're playing frisbee and you see somebody walking by play, we invite them to come join. Soon, you have a regular group emerging, and from there, an informal community.”
Contact: https://twitter.com/BBQ_Committee
Email: casnig@hotmail.com>
Comments