A group called Climate Recentered organized a community fair fest at Guildford Park Secondary on Saturday (May 27).
The focus was “to build local climate resilience to address growing climate emergencies, food security challenges, and precarity through mutual aid, solidarity and community organizing that builds on the strengths, experience, skills, and resilience of racialized migrant communities,” according to an event advisory.
Climate Recentered is described as “four Asian femme who aim to recenter the historically white-centered environmentalist to center joy, community organizing, and BIPOC lived experiences.”
Last summer, the group hosted 13 community-engagement events throughout Surrey involving activities including a basketball tournament, a cooling centre and henna night.
Arshia Uppal, an organizer of Saturday’s event, said food insecurity was an issue that came up when people were surveyed about the most important issues for Surrey residents.
The fair had a free grocery store and thrift store. Uppal said over 400 bags of groceries were gone within the first 30 minutes of opening. Most of the clothes were gone as well.
Climate Recentered hopes to create a pay-what-you-can grocery store in Surrey sometime in the future.
The group wanted to organize an event in Surrey with a focus on uniting the community and it centered around joy.
“We don’t organize around doom or anxiety,” said Uppal, a third-year student UBC who grew up in the Fleetwood and Newton area.
The fair also had vendors, including local non-profits, small restaurants and businesses. Some of the vendors were students of Guildford Park. A number of musicians also performed.
Uppal said it is also important for the group to use unused spaces. This is why the event was held in a parking lot that would have otherwise sat empty all weekend at Guildford Park Secondary.
Uppal said the plan is to have a community fair at every high school in Surrey, including Princess Margaret in late summer.
To find out more information about Climate Recentered or to set up a booth at their next event, contact them on Instagram, @climate.recentered.
anna.burns@surreynowleader.com
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