With the Fall Fair canceled, Open Sky came up with a COVID-friendly way to have fun, and raise some funds this fall
In this instalment of the Check-In, we hear from Helen Douglas, chair of the board at Open Sky Cooperative.
Open Sky is busy preparing to host the Amazing Scramble, a new, COVID-friendly event that Douglas hopes will bring the community out on September 19th.
The Sackville area scavenger hunt will help raise funds for Open Sky’s local programs, and also provide a chance for interactions and connections, something that Open Sky will be missing this year with the cancellation of the Fall Fair.
You can find out more and register for the Amazing Scramble at the event’s CanadaHelps page.
ERICA BUTLER:
All right, Helen. So for those of us who might not know what opens Gaia cooperative does, can you introduce the organization?HELEN DOUGLAS:
Open Sky is a farm cooperative in Sackville. It serves autistic youth and people with mental health challenges and barriers to employment in the southeastern New Brunswick and northern Nova Scotia region. It was started in 2011. And it has grown to provide unique programs and assessment tools for people that are transitioning out of high school and need to learn to work in group environments. And in fact we have an employment program which has led to many of our clients creating their own employment. So we teach everything from mental health first aid, how to get along in a workplace, how to cook in a commercial kitchen, how to farm.It’s just the most wonderful place and our mission statement is fostering inclusive communities. So we have a place there that has the most wonderful feeling of community and inclusion and love. People just love to hang out. And everybody’s accepted for who they are. It’s amazing.
EB:
How were the activities of Open Sky affected by the shutdown in March?HD:
Wow, that was big.Our clients all have a program. We have day programs, residential programs, half day programs. And they come to the farm, identify their goals… Some of them love to produce food for the others, some of them love to work outside, doing the mowing, looking after our donkeys, looking after our hens. You know, there’s a lot of different things people specialize in on a farm. But it’s really community-based. So we serve each other lunch, for example.
And all of a sudden our community was, you know, separated. And people still needed support. And it was just amazing what happened because the staff—our executive director, Margaret Tusz-King, and the program manager, Michelle Melanson, and we have one-on-one mentors for each client—they all got together and put on virtual programming hour-by-hour for weeks.
So everybody had to show up in the morning and have coffee together, virtually. And then they’d have an assignment such as write something and read it or take a picture of something in your house that meant something to you and you would meet again and explain it. And also there were walks. People would meet at a certain time at Sackville Commons and do a socially distanced walk. And there are still bicycle programs.
So it was unbelievable that they kept the programming going. Unbelievable.
EB:
So the program participants could could continue even throughout that initial phase of the shutdown.HD:
Yes, and now they’re coming back to the farm.EB:
Okay, I was going to ask: have things recovered now? Do you have people back on the farm?HD:
It’s modified. It’s really different than it was last year when we fed up to 20 people. We have SEED students, we have summer interns. We basically explode in the summer because of all the gardening needs, and we produce CSA baskets once a week. So everybody’s preparing the produce for those and labeling things and making pickles.
But this year, we can only have so many people in the kitchen and so many people in certain areas. So we have figured out a way to do it with social distancing. And everyone one’s really super about wearing their masks and being careful. So, yes, we’re pulling it off, as so many different businesses have had to figure out how to do.EB:
Now you have an event coming up on September 19. Can you tell me a bit about that?HD:
Yes, it’s on the date where we would have had the Sackville Fall Fair. And the Fall Fair was one of our fun things that we looked forward to, where we would set up our seasonal decorations, and all of our pickles and cinnamon buns. It was a big disappointment when the fair was cancelled. And we were trying to think of a fundraiser that would recognize and honour social distancing or the concept of the bubbles within COVID times. Previous to that we’ve had a garden party, which we couldn’t repeat, at Cranewood.So I thought of a car rally I’d been on in Ottawa. And everybody kind of got behind The Amazing Race car rally idea. And we put our heads together and came up with the Amazing Sackville Scramble on September 19th. And I think it might be the only sort of fun fundraiser event that’s going on this fall.
I think you know, the bubble of four in the car will be a good safe way to get together. And it’s going to be based on a lot of clues and riddles and tricks around Sackville. So the car, hopefully they’ll have a theme and a team name. And we’re going to give them a lot of challenges to do, and puzzles to solve, and then meet back at the farm for prizes and a light meal. And it’s just going to be a hoot. It’s going to be really good.
EB:
Sounds great. How do people find out a bit more about that or get registered for it?HD:
Well, we have a Facebook site. And we’re going to keep putting up, you know, hints and pictures and so on. If you go to Open Sky Cooperative and onto the Facebook, there will be a poster with the details. And you can register through a group called Canadahelps, which helps us produce all the receipts, or you can phone a couple of numbers on the poster and get registered.It’s $40 per person, but we’re hoping the cars will be, you know, friends or two couples or associated persons sort of within their bubble.
So the details are available on our Facebook
page.EB:
And so this fundraiser that helps Open Sky… that’s part of your operating funding for the year would it be?HD:
Yes, you know, fundraisers are something that just increase our connection in the community. And it does give us some extra leeway to do some special things that we have to do, improve the barn or put up some extra fencing for the turkeys. You know, it’s just that little cushion that we need in the fall, that helps us get ready for winter.And it’s also that we want the community to experience the ambience and experience the wonderful feeling at Open Sky.
And I think also at the Fair and at the these events, we network with families who say, I know someone whose son or daughter would benefit by being associated with you. So the networking is very important.
EB:
How important is is the work you’re doing? Is this filling a pretty important gap in our society?HD:
Oh, it’s unbelievable. When kids finish high school and they’re already isolated. They don’t get the jobs they apply for very often. They have a sense of sort of defeat, and no sense of community. They often will just disappear into video games or something unhealthy like that.And I must say, I’ve seen young people come that, you know, have not been able to talk to people, they’re not interested in being there. And after… We have one young man who started off, you know, with a very hopeless feeling and living with his parents. And now has his own apartment and works in a cooperative.
And so it’s really based on the belief that everybody deserves to have a happy life, and nobody should be left out.
EB:
Is there anything else that listeners should know about Open Sky and your event coming up on September 19th?HD:
We want to get as many cars out as possible. We’re going to start in five different locations, so we don’t all get crammed up. And everybody’s going to get clues and be handed different things and go to locations to have their photo taken.And I just think it’s a great way for the community to just say, the heck with COVID, we’re going to get out, we’re going to get together, we’re going to have fun.
And we would just love to meet some new people. So here’s hoping that, you know, quite a few people are listening to the show, and we’ve got the message out there.
