Once a year A Rocha hosts a family reunion of sorts. This past week Brooksdale Environmental Centre played host to A Rocha staff from across Canada – that’s over 30 staff and a few key volunteers who gathered from BC, Manitoba and Ontario.

Like any good family reunion, the four-day retreat was full of catching up on the good work happening across Canada – from educating children to growing healthy food to studying fish and birds to welcoming newcomers. It also included times of vision setting and alignment regarding our organizational purpose, ethos, strategy, and operations (which was actually a lot more fun than it sounds!).

For those who have been part of the A Rocha family for years there was a tangible sense of appreciation for the quality and character of those who have joined the team more recently.

“It’s one thing to have a vision for creation care across Canada, it’s a whole different thing to find the caliber of people to carry out that vision. By God’s grace A Rocha has drawn that caliber of people!” remarked Leah Kostamo, one of A Rocha Canada’s founders. “It humbles us right down to our toes!”