Find The Good

Our prayer for Boston and beyond:

We will take a stand.
Not because we are afraid but because we are strong.
That we will not allow their fear, anger and hate to enter our own hearts
and that we will encompass each other in love and peacefulness.
That we may remember the good outnumber the evil
and that love can heal wounds.


And now it's time for the good:

To the stranger who took me into her home, gave me soup and tea tostop my shaking and a phone to call home, thank you. #BostonMarathon2013
— Judith U (@Autismville) April 15, 2013

Apparently some of the Boston Marathon runners ran straight from the finish line to the hospital to give blood to injured people. HUMANS <3
— BriBry (@BriBryOnTour) April 15, 2013

Heroes don't always wear capes and tights. They wear civilian clothes and run towards the smoke after a bomb explodes or to give blood.
— Chris Eh Young (@Chris_Eh_Young) April 15, 2013

More love. More love. More love. #PrayForBoston
— Karl Zenith Nieva (@TheKarltopia) April 15, 2013

We tend to think of our heroes as unrecognizable. Truth is, most of them go unrecognized. The world is full of heroes if we start looking.
— Chris Eh Young (@Chris_Eh_Young) April 15, 2013

Much love from us all on the FoodLove KW team <3 

My Own Random Act of Kindness

Today is Random Acts of Kindness Day in Waterloo Region.

I'll post on the day's events at a later time but for right now, a quick story of a random act of kindness that will touch me forever...

Late on a Friday afternoon I was at the pharmacy with two sick kids. One had a double ear infection and the other, infection in both eyes. We had dropped off the prescription and waited 30 minutes for it to be filled. When they finally called us up, the pharmacy assistant told me our drug plan didn't cover any of the cost of either drug. The bill was $78.

There was no way we could afford that cost and the pharmacist told me to have my doc call in a new prescription. Dejected, we turned and started walking out of the store when a woman ran up behind us saying "Excuse me!" When I turned to pull the boys out of the way, she looked at me and said, "Your prescription is ready to go now."

I walked back to the pharmacy counter and the people in line clapped as the woman who paid for those prescriptions pulled me into a hug. I couldn't say more than "Thank you" in a broken voice as the tears streamed down my face.

I'll never forget the face of that woman or that moment in time. Thank you again, my pharmacy hero.

A Theme and A Purpose

All my life I have been an activist, a volunteer, a community supporter. Throughout elementary school I was a tutor, a reading buddy, a dog walker at the Humane Society and a letter writer for Amnesty International. In high school I was on school council, I organized coffee houses, I organized volunteers to "green" our school and build a rock garden and each year I was a driving force behind the 30-hour famine. As I've grown into adulthood I've been a church volunteer, a "listener" at a battered women's shelter, an advocate for special needs children, part of a team that feeds the homeless in our area and the girl who gives out cookies in exchange for smiles.

I'm not telling you this because I'm looking for attention or accolades. I'm telling you this because I've finally realized what my life (and subsequently, this blog) is all about.

My life's purpose is to bless and serve other people.

When I started this blog, I had a few things I wanted to write down but I had no idea if my blog would have a theme or if it would just be insane ramblings of me. It's natural that people would think I would write a food blog but I'm not organized enough for that. I forget to take pictures of some of the most incredible cakes I've ever made, I'll never remember to take pics during the cooking process. So where does that leave a girl who wants to blog but who often proclaims that the only thing she knows is food?

She searches herself and gains enough confidence to realize that she knows MUCH MUCH more than food. She knows people, she's got a soft heart that cries whenever she reads the news and she has a determination to make her world a better place.

So from this moment on, although I'm sure there will be the odd random post, this blog will become my way to help others, help others. You will read stories about amazing people doing amazing things. You will read stories about folks who need a hand up and most importantly, I will help you find a way to make your own contribution to causes that are important to you. If you have money to give, I'll help you get it there. If you have spare blankets I'll collect them and personally hand them out to the homeless on the street. If you always happen to bake 2 dozen cookies too many, I will help you hand them out to people who really need a smile in their day.

So if you know an amazing community builder, if you know a story that needs a voice, if you know a person that needs help finding their smile again, let me know. I am here to serve.

Love KW

You ever heard the one about the farmer who tweeted on his Blackberry while riding in an Old Order Mennonite horse & buggy?

If you haven't, then you have unfortunately been missing out on the incredible place that Waterloo Region is.

I love where I live. Not just a little, but almost as much as I love my family. I have pride in my country, but Waterloo Region... I live and breathe it.

Waterloo Region is RICH. Not dollars and cents rich, although there's some of that floating around too, but rich in history, rich in culture, rich in innovation.

There's this little thing that can be found worldwide called the Blackberry, made by RIM. Guess where RIM is and where the Blackberry was created? Yup, you got it... Waterloo.

Waterloo has a small town/big town identity crisis going on that I wouldn't change for the world. I can be at a major shopping center sipping a Starbucks latte and 15 mins later at a Mennonite farm buying fresh eggs and bread.

We have 2 universities, a world renowned concert hall, 2 museums and Oktoberfest.

We have churches that open their doors on cold winter nights so the homeless have a place to go.

We have KidsAbility, an incredible organization that serves all our children with special needs and we have the groundbreaking Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.

There's a prominent Jazz Fest every summer, and the Multi-Cultural Festival, bringing together our cultural diversity.

We have farmers who tweet while driving their tractors and this guy who shows up on a google search for almost anything.

Waterloo is a place where a Social Media Breakfast of 75 people can make #smbwr trend on Twitter across Canada.

Waterloo Region is the place where you can find a group of 10-12 people feeding, clothing and loving our areas less fortunate folks every Tuesday night.

Waterloo is home to a Farmers' Market that rivals any market in north America, and all the food is grown right in our own backyard.

Waterloo has a crazy baker who runs around town passing out FoodLove, just because.

We have a bible college, a community college, a pharmacy school and we're only an hour away from the largest city in Canada.

Waterloo is a small enough town that I run into someone I know at every event I go to, but large enough that I meet even more new people every time I step outside.

We've got 2 girls who wear tiaras because they're fabulous and we've got a group of area churches who put on huge events just to show the people of K-W how much they love them.

We have a restaurant that has been awarded the prestigious CAA/AAA Four Diamond award and another that is on the "Where to Eat in Canada" list and yet we also have Harmony Lunch, a place that cannot be described, only experienced.

I am beyond proud of my community and incredibly lucky I have the opportunity to live in a place like this.

Thank you, citizens of Waterloo Region, for making this one of the best places on earth to live. Thank you for caring about your neighbors, for accepting everyone as they are, for cleaning up parks, for supporting our local farmers, for bringing huge festivals and events to our area and for volunteering an immeasurable amount of hours to make our home a better place.

I ♥ Waterloo Region.