More than 80 members of the community painted rocks with the word “hope” on them in a multitude of languages as part of the #HopeRocksCR project organized by the Immigrant Welcome Centre’s Welcoming Communities Coalition (WCC) and the Campbell River Art Gallery.
But they didn’t want the fun to end there, so they’ve decided to get even more people involved.
People can discover these rocks in local businesses through a community scavenger hunt. The gallery and WCC has partnered with the Downtown Campbell River BIA to display the rocks in more than 20 downtown stores from Aug. 18 through the Labour Day Weekend (Sept. 6). It’s up to you to find “hope” in five different languages at five separate locations for a chance to win a gift basket filled with prizes contributed by the participating businesses.
“I was absolutely blown away by the number of people who got involved in this,” says Mike Davies, programming coordinator for the Campbell River Art Gallery. “There are somewhere around 80 rocks in our lobby right now with the word ‘Hope’ painted on them in different languages, and I’m looking forward to getting them out to the surrounding businesses and having people go find them!”
Participants can pick up a scavenger hunt form at the gallery during open hours (Wednesdays to Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.), which will include a list of businesses to visit. They will need to find five rocks in five different languages in five different businesses to complete the scavenger hunt. When they return the completed form they will be entered into the prize draw to take place in the week after Labour Day. Those who take a photo of the rocks during their hunt can also post the image on Facebook or Instagram and add the hashtag #HopeRocksCR to be entered in a bonus draw.
“The downtown businesses were super generous when I approached them to be part of this event,” Davies says. “They gave so many items and gift certificates to put in the prize package that we decided to do two baskets instead of just one.”
“The Hope Rocks project has been a great collaboration with the Campbell River Art Gallery and now with local businesses,” says IWC Community Connections manager Ann McLeod. “The scavenger hunt is a great way for newcomers and long-time locals to get out and have some fun in our downtown core, visit some businesses and, literally, find “hope” in diversity, in newfound freedoms and in our local businesses.”
The #HopeRocksCR project aspired to bring visibility to the variety of linguistic communities that live in Campbell River, and to show appreciation and respect for the diversity that exists within our city.
Pag-asa, esperanza, 希望 - “hope” is a word that exists in many languages and both the gallery and the WCC hope this project served as a reminder that many of us share similar goals, hopes, and aspirations.