Memorable people

Hiroki ponders the question. He’s been asked who at The North Grove Community Food Centre (CFC) has been especially memorable to him.

As he searches for the words in English, his second language, he considers who, among all of the welcoming staff, to choose.  

Then he names Maryann Borg, the Child Development Coordinator at The North Grove CFC. Maryann met Hiroki in 2022. Their chance encounter happened at the Discovery Garden, a play space on the CFC’s community farm that’s open to all. Hiroki wasn’t connected to the CFC’s programs—yet. But as Hiroki’s daughter played in the sandpit, Maryann and Hiroki got to talking.

Back then, Hiroki and his family were in their first year of settling in Canada, after immigrating from Japan. At that time, “we didn’t know any local activities that we can make use of,” Hiroki recalls. 

With Maryann’s encouragement, Hiroki and his family joined the CFC’s programs and even began volunteering. 

“Maryann sees our family as a whole, including our background, our story,” Hiroki explains.

“She’s not only friendly. She cares about us. She’s capable of seeing inside a person.”

Hiroki also speaks fondly of Chris Lampier, the Community Meals Coordinator at The North Grove CFC. As a community meal prep volunteer, Hiroki works with Chris each week. He sees how Chris skilfully directs the kitchen volunteers. Most of all, he admires how Chris keeps the team bonded through ice-breaker activities and lively social chats. 

“Chris is one of the best leaders I’ve ever had,” Hiroki says. 

For Funke, who also arrived in Canada in 2022, naming a memorable person at the CFC is easy: It’s Jess Murray, the Front Desk Assistant. “It was Jess that welcomed me with a beautiful smile, as always.” 

At the time, Funke really needed Jess’ warm welcome. Funke’s life in Canada had an especially rough start. Stepping off the plane from Nigeria, she came to Dartmouth 28 weeks pregnant, with her four-year-old daughter in tow. But her husband wasn’t able to join them yet. “I wondered, ‘How am I going to have my baby here with just this little girl, without knowing anyone?’ I cried for days,” she says. 

And before her Nigerian nursing qualifications were recognized in Canada, Funke lived on a low income. “I denied myself a lot of things,” she recalls.

But the CFC became, and remains, her haven: “It’s where I put down all the burdens, everything I have.” Funke and her husband now work as nurses in Halifax, but Funke still volunteers at the CFC. 

As for Hiroki, working with food has since become an even bigger part of his life in Canada. As well as doing meal prep at the CFC, he now works as a cook at a sushi restaurant. 

Recently, he was surprised by someone who dined at that restaurant: Chris. “When Chris was leaving,” Hiroki remembers, “he came up to me and said, ‘Hi Chef.’” 

They smiled at each other, Hiroki and his CFC cooking mentor who had now addressed him chef to chef. For Hiroki, it was a special moment with this memorable person. “It connected the two things that I am doing in Dartmouth.”