This weekend that just passed us by was when the Binbrook Agricultural Society held its annual craft and home show. I used to be one of the volunteers in the food booth when the kitchen was run by my aunt, but not so much anymore. However, I still showed my support for the event and the vendors when I attended on Saturday morning. Actually, I was really wanting strudel, and I was hoping beyond hope that the strudel guy would be there again this year.
Certainly, Binbrook has ballooned in every sense of the word. The population is insane now, and there are houses everywhere. Yet, I still managed to run into neighbours from the original community. I hadn't even entered any of the buildings, and I'd run into someone who lives two minutes away from me. No matter how much a village expands, you can't escape originals.
Though I had the goal of strudel in my mind, I had to stop at the first table that caught my eye. It didn't have anything flashy, and it wasn't selling anything over the top like the guy trying to sell granite counter tops, or the person with the birdhouses that looked like dogs. What caught my eye with this particular table was the banner for the Canadian Cancer Society. On that table was a display board with an assortment of ribbon key chains. Every cancer imaginable was was represented on that board, including child cancer. As it turned out, the funds from the key chains were going to the Cancer Society. With the other products on that table, a portion of the proceeds were going to support the Relay for Life, a fundraiser put on by the Canadian Cancer Society.
I'd asked the two ladies behind the table for the price of the key chains. $5 each. At that price, I asked for three gold chains. My nine year old cousin is a cancer survivor. Sure, I could have taken orange for leukemia, which is what he had, but why do that when I could get the gold instead? At that particular moment, they didn't have any gold ones made. Given how people usually want pink for breast cancer, I could understand how gold would be looked over. But, they got to work making my key chains while I perused the rest of the show.
I'm glad I arrived early. The strudel guy was there, and he had plenty to choose from. Blueberry, cherry, and apple. I bought one of each, and an extra apple to give to the boyfriend's family. Carrying around my strudel as if I were carrying a small child, I wandered through the rest of the buildings. Lucky me, I ran into more neighbours. A couple, I hadn't seen in ages. Others, I run into a couple times a year. Still, I enjoyed seeing them all the same.
When I returned to the table with the cancer key chains, mine still weren't ready, but that was no biggie. After wandering around again, and having something to eat, we came to the conclusion that I'd pay for my stuff, and they'd drop them off to me on their way back home at the end of the day, as they'd be driving right by my house anyway.
I'm certain that more often than not, people think of community as something small that consists only of those you know. That's definitely not true. Sure, I supported my community by attending an annual event. I can't not support an annual event, especially when it's one that I used to be a part of. By purchasing those key chains, and giving some extra money for their relay team, I supported another community: the one fighting cancer. My cousin survived because of that community. I wanted to do my part to do the same for other children.
Community isn't just something small with people you know. It's a support system, even if it is only by buying a few key chains.
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