October 22 - 11th Annual Pumpkin Patch at the Compassion Room

This Saturday, people from across the Lower Mainland will be coming together to celebrate compassionate children and caring communities. 

The 11th Annual Pumpkin Patch, held October 22 at the Compassion Room in Chief Maquinna Annex School Gym, will be a chance to express and recognize some of the compassionate acts that take place everyday in our communities. It's an opportunity to shine some light on the kindness of others.

The Dalai Lama Center spoke with Eva Aboud, Community Outreach Coordinator with Pumpkin Patch co-organizer Frog Hollow, to get a sense of what people can expect at this unique event. She shared some insights into how the Pumpkin Patch will reveal some of the discoveries of the ongoing Compassionate Children, Caring Communities Inquiry.

"We've never done anything like this before," Aboud says about the different take on this year's Pumpkin Patch. "It's going to be a celebration of what we've been doing during the inquiry. Families will get a better understanding of what it's all about."

The work Aboud refers to involved gathering stories from hundreds of people based on the question "what can people and communities do to encourage compassion, cooperation and confidence in children?"

To better understand these responses, the stories have been broken down into themes. And for the first time the general public will get an opportunity to see the deep connections within the community that Aboud and her team have already discovered.

"We are all one. We all bleed the same. We all cry the same. This inquiry has just been another reminder of what we're all made of," says Aboud.

At the Pumpkin Patch there will be a projector displaying some of the many responses from the inquiry. There will also be numerous tables, each one allowing you to document stories of compassion in a different way. You can paint, draw, write or even have your story recorded on video.

Aboud believes that storytelling has the ability to connect communities.

"Each time a story is told, we learn from hearing others," says Aboud. "We learn that there are whole different perspectives. Things change. You walk away saying, 'I never even stopped to think about it in that way'."

More information on the 11th Annual Pumpkin Patch can be found here. 

Pictures from "Frogs in the Park":

To celebrate the garden and its community, Frog Hollow organized a harvest festival on September 1 at Clinton Park. The festival included a vegetable growing contest, food from the garden and lots of entertainment.