Rebecca and Port Medway Community Garden, NS – From a place with potential to a place where community gathers
When Rebecca arrived at Rosefinch and the Port Medway Community Garden through the ASCEND program, she was very nervous and very quiet. She had been largely out of the workforce for years, after previous experiences had not felt safe or supportive for her as an autistic person.
Rebecca did an extraordinary amount of hands-on work. She mowed grass, watered regularly between weekly volunteer visits, moved soil, helped plant two new raised beds built with provincial support, and performed Olympic-level weeding that dramatically expanded the usable space. In fact, for the first time in 17 years, the South Shore Public Libraries bookmobile is returning to Port Medway for a regular story hour, partly because of Rebecca’s work.
Through a connection she made at Rosefinch, she had a month-long show on the “Small Stuff Shelf” at the Lunenburg Art Gallery, where some of her knitted pieces sold. She also now sells her knitted creatures in the Rosefinch shop, giving her both a secondary source of income and the chance to hear directly from customers who are moved by her work.
Thanks to ASCEND, Rebecca has widened her social circle, built new relationships, learned new skills, and sold her art. She is hardworking, funny, creative, tender-hearted, and deeply capable. We are so proud of her, and so grateful to ASCEND for helping create the conditions for more people to see in her what we do. We hope she can one day see that herself!
— Audra Williams, Rosefinch Creative