Ideas for taking a cross-Canada ‘compassion challenge’
We’ve both dined on guinea pig in the Andes of Ecuador, and sipped goats’ blood in Kenya’s Maasai Mara. We’ve also navigated countless foreign metropolises with merely a grungy map and tattered phrase book. So when we watch The Amazing Race Canada, we envision ourselves as participants. But given the chance, we’d create an entire new season of challenges that shine a spotlight on the countless community groups that exemplify the quintessential Canadian trait of kindness. Here are six “compassion challenges” we’d love to see:
Busking for books in St. John’s
After smooching a fish at one of George Street’s famous pubs, racers would mooch for charity. Inspired by the city’s busker festival, racers would show off their talents to collect spare change from passersby — all to benefit Teachers on Wheels. The local initiative provides literacy training for marginalized adults.
Be a kindness superhero in Brantford, Ont.
Challengers would call home from the site where Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, and then meet another of Brantford’s best-known citizens, Captain Kindness. For a decade, church pastor Dave Carrol has donned a mask and cape at public events, asking residents to show compassion to each other. We’d like to see race participants immerse themselves in this small city’s caring culture, performing 10 random acts of kindness for strangers.
Meals on two wheels in Montreal
Participants cook up crepes on the cobblestone streets of the old city, and play delivery boy for Santropol Roulant, an inventive non-profit that runs a dinner program for seniors in need — by bicycle.
Aboriginal encounters in Winnipeg
Teams would visit the Indian and Métis Friendship Centre where they’d compete to collect answers to a quiz on aboriginal culture with the help of local elders.
Co-operative harvest in Regina
First stop is the historic site on Smith Street where farmers first gathered to operate their own grain elevators. Next, racers would discover a new Regina food-sharing project, Fruit for Thought. The non-profit organizes volunteers to pick surplus fruit from residents’ trees and divvy up their harvest among homeowners and local food banks. Teams would have to collect two full bushels of fruit before moving to the race’s next challenge.
Sorting clothes to help women in Victoria
The Women in Need Community Co-op runs three popular re-sale shops that fund support programs. Racers would sort huge piles of incoming clothing, household items and furniture.