This book dropped into my hands at an airport book store on my way to
Mexico with Owen in November 2017. I was so inspired by what was
written that while still on vacation I emailed Doug directly and ordered 10
copies. I then sold them at cost to my neighbours and friends for $15, and
said “read or, browse, or not but sell it forward to your neighbour and
friends” and plan to attend a Book Review” at Riverdale in April 2018. In the
classroom we call barNoneI, I covered the walls with big sheets of paper
and wrote the 13 chapters headlines. There were 100 people who showed
up in a snow storm for the Book review! Everyone was invited to write their
comments under the chapter headings most dear to them. Each person
was given two stickers, red for their no.1 area of priority and blue for the
second. We learned that the majority of the attendees were concerned
about housing/homes for our seniors to be able to stay in our community
and second was that we wanted a coffee shop/pub in the village. My
oversight was that all comments and ideas were left anonymously, so we
didn’t have names to encourage following through with action with the
exception of three that I know of. The first was this. Two gentlemen offered
some financial help for a local resident for the start up of a coffee shop .
Another individual started a monthly social in barNone called Wine and
Wellness in which she enlisted guest speakers, and a local winery and
cidery supplied samples of their products. Thirdly, in action inspired from a
number of requests for a babysitting registry in town , we found and hosted
a fun evening for young families to meet with about 6 young people who
were in the babysitting business at the time.
Book Review 13 Way to kill your community
This book was written for small town residents with the desire to make a
difference in their community, but who aren’t quite sure what to do. The
author, Doug Griffiths, travelled extensively throughout rural Alberta, as a
Member of the Legislative Assembly, creating a rural development strategy
for the province. Out of that experience he wrote “13 Ways to Kill a
Community”, describing the power small communities have to change
their future. What is this warning list, you may ask? Here they are the 13
Ways to Kill your Community: Don’t have Quality Water, Don’t Attract
Business, Ignore your Youth, Deceive Yourself About Your Real Needs or
Values, Shop Elsewhere, Don’t Paint, Don’t Cooperate, Live in the Past,
Ignore your Seniors, Reject Everything New, Ignore Outsiders, Become
Complacent, and Don’t Take Responsibility.
