We have held our event and it was a great success,
In recognition of Loneliness Awareness Week, the What Matters to Hatters Coalition has listening events at Towne Square (June 9), the hospital (June 10), and the Veiner Centre (June 12) over the lunch hour. Check out our Events listings for more details. We are so excited to share that we finally received our signage for our Sidewalk Talk events!
Our time in Towne Square offered an opportunity to connect with our vulnerable populations downtown. It was a hot day so we went with a cooler of cold water and cookies to share. It was wonderful to listen to peoples' stories, learn about their lives, and just bear witness to their journeys. Sometimes we hear that residents are fearful to go downtown but our volunteers did not feel that way at all. We also encountered someone who is trying to keep the area clean by picking up garbage daily. Kudos to them for doing this! We hope that our presence in Towne Square made a difference and definitely want to have a Sidewalk Talk there again.
Our What Matters to Hatters Coalition was so grateful to come across Sidewalk Talk and have woven our listening events in with an annual kindness campaign we run yearly that begins in the fall and ends in the spring. Since receiving our funding through Change X, we have hosted three Sidewalk Talk events on September 15 (Culture Days), October 10 (World Mental Illness Day), and November 13 (World Kindness Day). We have been able to connect with a diverse group of local residents for these events as we spread the word about the project. Those who have participated and/or heard about our Sidewalk Talk events have provided overwhelmingly positive feedback and have encouraged us to keep doing this important work of listening to people to reduce loneliness and social isolation.
We have plans to host our December Sidewalk Talk at our local hospital during the week leading up to Christmas as we feel that patients and staff will appreciate this opportunity. Our team has committed to host listening events at least monthly until the end of April 2025. We are also in discussion with a local church that supports newcomers and hope to also offer Sidewalk Talk events at the church after their "English Cafe's" where new Canadians practice their English Language Skills. It has been noted that some newcomers are isolated at home and have identified feeling lonely and disconnected to their new community. We hope to offer a listening ear to these folks who may be attending the English Cafe weekly.
As part of our efforts, we have partnered with our local drug coalition to reduce stigma related to substance use and mental illness by addressing how important it us to be mindful of the language we use when speaking about and to others impacted by substance use and mental illness. We are writing a monthly article for our local paper to promote this work, our Sidewalk Talk events and also highlight local kindness champions who are making a difference in our community for vulnerable populations.
We have used our initial funding to pay for our Sidewalk Talk Chapter Registration, purchase newspaper space for our monthly articles, pay for three of the speech bubble signs you can see in the attached photo, and to purchase some apple cider mix to serve to those attending our November Sidewalk Talk event on World Kindness Day. We intend to use our final funding to pay for a Sidewalk Talk sandwich board sign and some of the remaining article space in our local newspaper.
We do hope to continue hosting Sidewalk Talk events after our kindness campaign is complete as our volunteers feel strongly that this initiative is impactful and important for our community.
Yesterday was World Kindness Day and we had a wonderful time at our downtown Sidewalk Talk listening event. Special thanks to Jan who had warm cider to share with everyone who stopped by to chat!
In December, we plan to be inside at the hospital on the 23rd. Stay tuned for more details!
Action plan:
Timeline: We started our project September 15, 2024 at Culture Days. We will meet to host Sidewalk Talk events monthly. We plan to have Talks on October 10 (World Mental Health Day), November 13 (World Kindness Day), mid-December, January 31 (National Hot Chocolate Day), February 10 or 11, 2025 (Random Acts of Kindness Week), March 18 (National Awkward Moments Day), and April 28 (Pay it Forward Day). Some dates may be subject to change.
Budget: We would like to use the money for signs, perhaps t-shirts, and also for the $75 fee to become an official Sidewalk Talk Chapter.
Impact: We will offer a listening ear and be able to connect people with community resources if needed. We will demosntrate the power of connection, kindness, and community through listening. Our goals for the project are to have a listening event once a month until April and we will track how many volunteers and talkers participate at each event. We will also create a brief evaluation with a QR code and paper surveys (optional). We have a facebook page called What Matters to Hatters Coalition as well as an X account that we will use to spread awareness about the project and about the importance of connection. We already use these platforms to address loneliness and social isolation. We also have access to being interviewed on a local television station as well as our local news and will be using earned media to increase knowledge and interest about Sidewalk Talks.
Location: We intend to use our downtown sidewalks and coffee shops to carry out the project and will work with businesses and the City permitting office as needed for each event.
