Even under normal circumstances, living in a basement can feel suffocating. And the pandemic was not conducive to normal living circumstances.
These hidden gem parks offer trails, picnic areas and plenty of greenspace waiting to be enjoyed.Â
These hidden gem parks offer trails, picnic areas and plenty of greenspace waiting to be enjoyed.Â
Every day, my life was the same — I would wake up, attend class from my bed and then go back to sleep. The walls felt like they closed in on me, inch-by-inch, every day that I didn’t go outside. And why would I, when there was nothing but the plague and poor weather beyond my door.Â
And when I was the most shut-in I had ever been in my life, that was when I met Bear. His name was definitely not Bear, but he didn’t object to the name I had picked for him and his collar didn’t say otherwise. Every afternoon in the three-foot alleyway between houses where the entrance to my Kensington Market suite sat, he would meet me in the steps outside my basement in exchange for a small bowl of kibble and let me pet him.
For a few painfully long weeks during the harshest of lockdowns, it was the only time I ever really went outside.
Insecure after a bike crash left me scraped up, I braced for a tough week — but camp offered a lesson in empathy I didn’t see coming.
Insecure after a bike crash left me scraped up, I braced for a tough week — but camp offered a lesson in empathy I didn’t see coming.
I had moved to ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ two years earlier. I hadn’t explored nearly as much of the city as I should have, and as a result, didn’t think there was much out there for me to do. I was content with the world my small basement provided for me.
My overwhelming feeling of that time, most of which has been repressed into the recesses of my mind, was fear. Fear of getting sick, of getting my friends sick and what the world would look like after the pandemic as an undergrad student on the verge of graduating.Â
He was the one to draw me out of my dank, depressing basement. Those few minutes outside with him would soon turn into hours in the summer, as he would lie next to me while I did my readings for class. It reminded me that there was a world outside to go to when it felt like my basement was my entire existence.
Bear didn’t care about the pandemic. He knew that the outside world was scary, yes, but full of wonderful and kind people that would feed and pet him.Â
Camp Maple Leaf brings together kids who have family in the military, are grieving a loved one, live below the poverty line or have a disability.Â
Camp Maple Leaf brings together kids who have family in the military, are grieving a loved one, live below the poverty line or have a disability.Â
Day by day, he drew me back outside — and reminded me that, although the outside world can have plenty of things that can hurt you, there’s lots it can leave for you to experience as well.Â
I have felt that fear, that anxiety, every day since the pandemic. It builds in my gut when I think about big trips and big decisions. It filled me when I decided to move to the U.K. after graduating. My stomach churned when I was weighing the move back to ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ to work for the Star.
Every time it did, I took a walk. And everywhere I went, I found Bear. I would be encouraged to explore new places in the city, and around the world, always with a few cat treats in my bag. It gave me a reason to go outside again, even when I didn’t really want to.
My partner, Holly, often jokes that I have a knack for attracting cats, so much so that she started a photo album of my encounters with feline friends everywhere we went. I have four-legged friends in Paris, in London and in little pockets of ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ now. There’s a pair of ginger cats in Seaton Village, a calico cat near Wychwood, a long-haired cat in the Annex. Each time they remind me that being outside, exploring new places and tackling my anxieties can be scary, but it can also be rewarding.
I don’t know if I would have ever been motivated to leave the depths of my depression during the pandemic without Bear. He gave me a reason to go breathe fresh air again, feel the sun and gave me companionship during one of the loneliest periods of time in my life.
Kids need the same chance: to go outside, be pushed to face their fears and find a place to make new friends (with other human children, not cats). And while I was lucky enough to find help through my friends and family (and cats), others might not be as privileged.
The ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Star Fresh Air Fund provides grants to day and overnight camps that subsidize fees for children whose families couldn’t otherwise afford to send them. If you’re able, consider donating and give kids a chance to make a new friend, push their boundaries and experience the outdoors.
The ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Star Fresh Air Fund
GOAL:Ìý$650,000
TO DATE:Ìý$587,450.00
How to donate:
Online:
To donate by Visa, Mastercard or Amex using our secure form.
By cheque:
Mail to the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Star Fresh Air Fund, 8 Spadina Ave., ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½, ON M5V 0S8
By phone: Call 647-250-8282
Tax receipts will be issued.
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