Stewardship Update: Stories of Opportunity
Message from the New CEO Luke Wilson
Being part of A Rocha for almost 10 years, most recently as the Ontario Director, I feel profound joy in seeing your commitment to sharing creation care opportunities with people across Canada and I am blessed to be given the chance to lead an organization that I love so much.
My creation care journey started when I was at Joy Bible Camp in Bancroft Ontario, at the ripe age of six. I remember spending long hours outside, soaked, sunburnt, and lost in the wonder of creation. Little did I know that this was God’s gateway for me to love this good gift. Those opportunities shaped who I am now, the vocation that I treasure and I owe it to building Leopard frog habitats in the swampy end of Faraday Lake.
As an A Rocha supporter, you are part of a passionate community that thrives on passing along similar educational opportunities to people of all ages every day. We cultivate these moments by teaching people the names of species, explaining how they fit into the ecosystem and showing ways we can protect and care for them. These moments provide hands-on experiences in creation which in turn, provide encounters with the Creator. For this, we thank you.
A Rocha British Columbia
Recently, the Farm-to-Families (F2F) team at the Brooksdale Environmental Centre hosted a group of seniors for a farm tour and cooking activity, which involved pulling stubborn leeks out of the ground, harvesting kale, trying new recipes, and having coffee over a discussion about the links between food and community.
Once the seniors finished preparing the meal, they were delighted to see the community that suddenly arrived to partake in it. Many voiced their gratitude and surprise that places like A Rocha even existed.
This was the first time we hosted such a blend of activities. We wanted to offer an opportunity for intergenerational space in which isolated seniors could cook and enjoy each other’s company, while learning about the ecosystem that made the meal possible. But, as is often the case, such interactions blossomed into much more: friendship, curiosity, learning, hope, and desire to contribute.
A Rocha Manitoba
A Rocha Manitoba’s growing education programs are offering people of all ages the opportunity to learn about creation care in a hands-on way. After engaging in our education programs people are inspired to care for creation in their own contexts. In Winnipeg, twenty teachers and administrators at a local Christian school participated in our eco-theology workshop during a professional development day.
The teachers were excited about creation care, but found it hard to put into practice in their classrooms. Through the workshop they were able to name the challenges they faced, and then develop strategies to implement creation care at the school and in their classrooms.
They now hope that their school-wide creation care week will become the pinnacle of a whole year of creation care engagement. The eagerness of the staff to put into practice their creative strategies gives us hope that many children at the school will come to learn about the importance of caring for this wonderful created world.
A Rocha Ontario
This past August, A Rocha Ontario hosted the annual three night stargazing event “Consider The Heavens,” held during the Perseid Meteor shower at the Cedar Haven Eco-Centre site. Local astronomers from partner organizations gathered to share their telescopes with those hoping for a chance to get a glimpse of the “heavens”.
As the night progressed, folks were inspired by the passing meteors, equipped with knowledge from our tent filled with educational material about the night skies, and surrounded by community through conversations around campfires.
We are striving to make nature experiences accessible for people living with disabilities, meaning we do our best to provide opportunities for anyone to care for creation in whatever way they can. As such, it was a delight for us to witness folks of all ages and abilities participate in a night of inspiration and wonder, especially for those who saw the moon up close through a telescope for the first time! The evenings were a perfect way to bring together community and partner organizations to behold the wonder of the night skies and the one who created it.
