NOH : AHS

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MECA Meegan Everyday Creativity

Hey, check out our GoFundMe campaign for MECA!

Al recited this poem when I visited his tent in Meegan aka Beacon Hill Park during one of our worst wind and rain storms.

MECA
Meegan Everyday Creativity Arts

Helping creatives like Al, a poet and artist, sheltering in tents in Meegan aka Beacon Hill Park, Victoria, B.C.

There are some brilliantly creative minds among the unhoused in Canada.

MECA helps with supplies and community support for their creative activities.

Al’s Art painted on Mushroom Skin Canvas. Made whiling away the hours, during Victoria’s winter storms, living in a pup-tent in Meegan aka Beacon Hill Park.

We’re hoping that when private landlords see how creative and productive these individuals are, they will be more willing to show them rentals, and make a rental agreement with them.

Activities may include any artistic discipline or creative skill any participant may choose to share.

Music
Theatre
Visual Art
and
Creativity Inherent in Survival Skills.

Check out this video where Al shows us some of his paintings, and talks about how he makes artist’s canvas from mushroom skins!

Al’s mushroom skin canvases and paintings are just one example of how these unhoused individuals use their artistry and creativity.

Not only does it help them survive the harsh elements of living outdoors, but it also gives them greater life-purpose, and supports their mental health.

*Daniel Morel plays blues harmonica and guitar, and lives in Meegan. He’s eager to share his skills and help others with their musical expression.*

I’ve spent many hours with the people residing in the park. I sat with them to write the first draft of this project and have returned many times to collaborate with others who have added to it. I’ve conversed with about half the current park population, and there’s a lot of enthusiasm for it.

It’s essentially a creative skill-sharing project.

It provides shelter (2 X 8×10 pop-up canopy tents)
and supplies
and a regular daily activity (4 days a week)
with a couple of volunteer skill-sharing facilitators!

Creative skills they’ve offered to share include:

Art-Making (beading, textile arts, painting, drawing, carving, sculpting)
Creative Writing (journaling/spoken word)
Music (playing instruments, Songwriting, jamming, performance)
Podcast (storyboarding, recording, live)
Theatre (plot and character development, role play, story development, improv, movement)
Survival Skills (mending, food prep, mask-making)

Participants may include, tho are not limited to the approximate 80+ individuals currently sheltering in Beacon Hill Park, and their housed allies.

The money raised will go towards buying equipment and supplies, and any left-over will go towards stipends and/or housing for the participants.

Mask painted by Don, who lives in a small pup tent in Meegan. Three years ago Don was in his tent when it burst into flames. With his body covered in 2nd and 3rd degree burns, and his face and hands with 4th and 5th degree burns, he walked from Ross Bay to Jubilee Hospital where he received treatment. When he shared this mask with me, he apologized for what he described as sloppy work, due to his injured hands not yet having the dexterity he’s used to.

Equipment and supplies we are seeking to acquire:

+ Two sturdy pop-up canopy tents, that will withstand west coast wind and rain and keep people dry, and maybe even warm, while they create within their own community bubbles, respecting COVID precautions.

+ Art supplies: paint and canvases, brushes, sketch books and paper, art pencils, pens, chalk etc., textile art supplies etc

+ A couple large beverage thermos to keep hot beverages

+ Hot beverages and snacks

+ Folding plastic chairs

…and many things not yet thought of!

These people need somewhere to be artistic, creative beings.
MECA wants to help with that.
Can you, will you, please help us?

MECA is a NOH : AHS project
Alison Boston is the founding president of NOH : AHS
NOH : AHS is a registered not-for-profit in British Columbia, Canada.

Best Answer #1

From a shy, yet deep-thinking, rather poetic and insightful contributor, who wants to be known only as J.K.

Submitted August 25, 2020 at 2:11 pm

Alright. The colon in the middle is a permeable wall/membrane between the two acronyms indicating that they work both ways. Connection. communication and interdependence are the keys to getting a project like this to work properly. This wall will provide privacy and shelter when necessary and be open to all when not. It is indicative of change. Or as in many emails––it’s two eyes looking all ways at once. The colon means that the society deals with ‘marginalized’ persons equitably––regardless of race, gender, ability. It indicates the right of human beings to have proper shelter; to be treated as worthwhile individuals; and, sometimes it is simply that the colon makes people take a half breath or beat or a pause between the Network of Homes : Affordable Housing Society. So where is the Network and what is it?” J.K.

J.K. asks a valid question with their final sentence. The network is being built in this very moment! Their very act of participating in this contest builds the network.

It can also be built in a very concrete way through the acquisition and/or management of private rentals currently occupied by long-standing tenants who may have made their homes there for multiple years, if not decades! And who are now at risk of losing their home because the owner/landlord has decided to sell.

NOH : AHS – with all its innocent bluster – thinks it just might be able to raise the funds to buy some of these places so the tenants can stay put! NOH : AHS aspires to become their new landlords, and just carry on renting the places to them so they don’t have to pack up and leave their affordable-for-their-low-income home and find somewhere similar to live in the neighbourhood they call home, at a rental price they can afford.

And thus, on a quite possibly figuratively and literally concrete level, though some homes may be wood frame, we will have a Network of Homes : Affordable Housing Society.

Looking for Gluten-Free Sponsor

Which baked goodie did J.K. choose? Well, it turns out they’re Celiac so NOH : AHS is looking for a gluten-free baker who will gift us a prize for our Best Answer #1. Yes, we are still accepting submissions because although there can only be one Right Answer there can be many Best Answers!
By the way, if you live far away and can’t pick up the prize (we will deliver if you within a 30-40 minute drive of downtown Victoria) you can still enter our contest and gift your prize to someone or something of your choice in Victoria.

Contest Still Open

What do you think? Why is there a weirdly spaced colon in NOH : AHS? Click here to send us your Best Answer!

We know the featured image is sideways. Sometimes we just need to adjust our perception to be winners!

WIN FRESH HOME-BAKING

NOH : AHS

Why the weirdly spaced colon?

Wonder why there’s a weirdly-spaced colon in our acronym NOH : AHS?

Use this message form to send us your idea! Best answer wins a home baked fruit pie or home baked loaf of sour dough rye.*

NOH : AHS

Why the weirdly spaced colon?

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Thank you for your response. ✨

*RULES:

1. Anybody residing anywhere in the world can enter our contest.

2. You must be able to pick up your prize in downtown Victoria. If you are unable to pick-up we will deliver within a reasonable distance. We reserve the right to decide whether or not the delivery address is a reasonable distance.

3. You must be 18 years of age. Persons under the age of 18 may participate with parental supervision.

This is an open-ended contest. There is currently no deadline. We are always baking pie and bread and always like to read Best Idea Answers!