Helping Each Other

It’s 11 pm, and my 22 year old daughter and I are in my WindSong living room, packing some of her books for her move to an apartment in Vancouver. We have lots of boxes, but we’ve just run out of packing tape.

“Do you think Shoppers has packing tape?” She asks.
“I don’t know,” I answer. “I’ll just put out a message.”

So I send an email to Windsong, even though it’s very unlikely that any of my neighbours will be a) still awake, b) reading their email and c) possessing packing tape.

I get three rolls of packing tape delivered to my door within seven minutes.

This is an example of our culture of helping each other. One night, it’s packing tape. Another time, it’s “can someone help me boost my car?” Or “can someone watch my sleeping kids for an hour tonight while I pick up my husband from work?” Because we’re a community of 65 adults, we have many people here who can help.

When a baby is born or someone is quite sick, we ask the family what kind of food they eat and then create a meal calendar for them. They get dinners every night for a few weeks, when life is tough. Whoever wants to cook them a meal does so. There is no obligation.

I’m proud of the way we help each other.