Working Centre 101

Off to See the Working Centre, The wonderful Working Centre of K/W!

Yesterday all the other Beyond Bordians, Joanne and I trudged through the snow and freeezing cold temps to check out The Working Centre, located in Kitchener. Not only were we able to have a guided tour around the buildings, we were also able to have a sit down chat with Joe Mancini, the man behind the magic. Before arriving at The Working Centre I had no idea what to expect, but it was exactly how Joanne describe it, 'like oz!' We started our adventure at the Queen Street Commons Cafe, where the open space, bright windows and tantalizing smell of lunch and tasty baked goods were enough to keep us there for hours. The Working Centre is a space meant to help and welcome anyone and everyone that needs it. With hard work and a little elbow grease the old buildings that house The Working Centre have been renovated by the Mancini's and other volunteers to create a great area that accomplishes many different things. The bright colors and green life give the building a pleasent feel that accents the smiles and bright personalities of those both working and volunteering there.

Yesterday we were supposed to get comfortable with the staff and buildings as well as determine which projects we would like to focus on. The latter sounds easy, but let me tell you, it wasn't! There are so many great projects going on it's soo hard to just pick one!

A few projects include:

Queen Street Commons Cafe
- unique space for meetings / lunch
- supported by volunteers
- offers inexpensive vegetarian menu
- unique gifrt shop
- Speak English Cafe (Thursday Nights)

Maurita's Kitchen
-prepars all food sold in the Commons Cafe



Computer recycling
-refurbish old computers / sell them at a much lower cost







Worth a Second Look
- WASL is an inexpensive retail outlet
- run by volunteers
- offers gently used furniture and housewares

Grow Herbal Gardens
- seasonal project that produces quality herbes
-the rest of the projects include recycling bicycles, a sewing space,craft centre, St. John's Community Kitchen and a Job Search Resource Centre


Rebecca Mancini, a former student of SJU and participant of the Beyond Borders was able to share with us what The Working Centre is all about and as a volunteer, I can't wait to jump right in and help! I think that spending time volunteering will help put the skills we've learned last semester to practical use before we leave the country in May! As the date grows closer I can't help to day dream on a pretty consistent basis. More posts to come, especially on my adventures within The Working Centre!

peace.