The Catholic Easter in 2021 was almost a month before the Orthodox Easter this year, so naturally, we had about a month to plan.
In 2020, as the first lockdown was placed shortly before Easter, I realized that more people in the community would need support but also more than that; they need to be acknowledged for what they are doing to keep us safe. I formed an online page, “I am here for you,” and encouraged people in Halton to write messages and leave them on nighbour’s mailboxes to offer support. As the page started growing and Easter was approaching, we initiated a campaign, “Thank you, frontline workers,” and asked for online nominations. I secured two local small businesses that offered to support the cost of 50 pots with flowers — flowers that we bought from a local grower in Milton. I wrote all the messages for the “Thank you” cards, delivered the gifts to the addresses provided by the nominator, and for over 30 persons, we prepared some homemade sweets.
The 2021 Easter was our second Easter in lockdown. The announcement about the lockdown came two weeks before the Orthodox Easter. After one year and two months already into the pandemic, I had a meltdown when I heard the announcement. I locked myself inside our bedroom and decided that I would not go out until everything was over. I came to a point where I told myself that nothing would have the power to lift me up; no actions, no events, nothing. I knew maybe more actions were needed during this Easter, but they had to do it without me.
YOU ONLY LOSE WHAT YOU CLING TO! – Buddha
On that Friday, after hearing the news, I went to bed soon after 5 PM, and I refused to go out.
When the pandemic started, in an effort to keep our brains away from the news, we created different activities. Friday night, we met from 8-10 PM, and we had trivia night, book club night; we had diverse people that come and entertained us. I started a “Hike, the pandemic group,” and we decided that the world could collapse every Saturday morning, but we will still go and accomplish at least 20.000 steps. And we did it, Saturday after Saturday! Our girls’ time was as we walked in the forest, park, or any place we discovered.
On that Friday afternoon, in my bedroom, I decided that I am not doing anything. I will stay in bed until everything goes away. I left my phone outside of the bedroom; I refused to browse any social media or to speak with anyone looking for me using my husband’s number.
On Friday night, people started being agitated as they signed on zoom, and I was not there to admit them. To be honest, I completely forget about Friday night. I forgot about the Saturday, and I slept until 1 PM, and I keep staying in bed the entire day.
I slept, went to the bathroom, and slept some more!
I had a dream, or maybe more, but in one dream, a child that I met years ago and now is an adult paid a visit. This boy came to the Romanian Language school, and he was asking me for some advice shortly after he moved with his Mom from QC to ON. I remembered this dream because I was so shocked; why from nowhere, a kid I met more than 15 years ago is now coming into my dream. I don’t think we met after, but with the community’s help, I was able to make his dream come true. He was in high school during that time. I was connected with his Mom on social media, and through that, I knew how he was doing. He was a successful new grad working for a reputable company.
After a few conversations back and forth with my husband, I decided to come to the dinner Sunday night. The dream about that kid kept bothering me, and I was thinking non-stop about why he came into my dreams all of a sudden. I was trying to find the reason. I was staring at the walls on a close-to-be Monday morning when a message arrived.
For anyone with family in a different time zone, you know the feeling when a message is coming in the middle of the night or the phone rings when people in your birth country are supposed to be asleep. I couldn’t resist looking at the phone, and without knowing, I checked the message.
“Hi Gabi, sorry to bother you. I have a question for you: do you know any families in need of something for Easter? I want to give them something for Easter.”https://www.facebook.com/deliana.pascu
I looked at the message. The first intention was to ignore the message; I promised myself 49 hours ago that I am doing ANYTHING! But in a blink of an eye, I realized that it was that kid’s mother, and the next second, I remembered the day I met them…IT WAS A WEEK BEFORE EASTER. I knew at that moment that someone was watching me and sending me a sign…I do not have to give up; I have to come back to life and continue what I was doing year after year. I called her, told her what happened and the fact that I had a dream about her son…and we stayed for 1h12 minutes on the phone..
The second after I hung up with her, I sent the girls a ZOOM invite for Monday night. They were in, supportive and happy that I was back. I wish I could say everything that I did say! But maybe that could be another real story!
12 days before Easter, we launched the campaign! We aimed to deliver 50 baskets with Easter goodies and we asked anyone who knew someone who wanted to be surprised by us to send us a message.
We had 12 days to collect the money, set up the orders for food, find Easter baskets in lockdown, and deliver them around the GTA.
The stories started pouring
- I met X., she looks so tired and overwhelmed with two small kids and over one year of homeschooling, she doesn’t want to do anything for Easter, do you think we can surprise her?
- I have a friend whose husband died last, her daughter is in university, and she is alone at home. You don’t colour eggs or cook if you are alone. Do you think we can surprise her?
- In the building where my Mom is living, I saw some Romanian family names. Maybe they are alone and will be happy to have a lovely Easter surprise.
- I know a mother that needs to fly to Romania as her mother is sick and the husband is left home with the kids.
We didn’t manage to receive 50 as we set up the goal, but we managed to deliver close to 30 baskets as far as Ajax and back to Kitchener. After browsing Marketplace, I set up a map of Burlington and Oakville with Andreea Tandreeatiberiu., and we picked up any Easter basket or Easter decoration available. Some were so close that we walked from one to another, achieving our 20K steps efficiently. Casa Romana Sweethttps://casaromanasweets.com/ boutique did an outstanding job in baking, and I coloured over 200 eggs! My fantastic drivers Doina https://www.facebook.com/ileana.dumitru.75, Vero https://www.facebook.com/veronica.dondas hubby, Andreea hubby, Monica B. https://www.beffalaw.ca/, Steluta https://www.facebook.com/steluta.basaraba.1and Magda, delivered the baskets around southeast Ontario. And all because we mobilized around a cause, as the great community that we are! THANK YOU for your donation, and THANK YOU for your support to my team of unique Bunnies!
Each basket has a card (attached below) signed by “The Easter Bunny” because it was an amazing community effort to accomplish everything we did, but some stories came from friends of friends (or people who saw us when we delivered), and messages started coming. I will end my story with some messages copy/paste in Romanian and English.
Cerasela: Arts4PeopleMovement, o mâna de doamne inimoase, pentru care verbul “a dărui” are multiple semnificatii. Surprind, emoționează, bucura și-ți dau speranța ca, deși departe unii de altii, încă ne purtam dragostea și prietenia in suflete!
Am găsit cadoul in fata ușii și m-am gândit ca sigur e de la cineva care știe cât sunt de nepriceputa in bucatarie, atunci când e vorba de dulciuri (da’ ma pricep, grozav, sa le mananc!). Îmi comandasem și eu un cozonac, dar cu siguranța ca cel primit astăzi va fi mult mai bun, fiindcă are in el un ingredient care-l diferențiază de celelalte, GENEROZITATE!
Va mulțumim din suflet, doamnelor și speram ca Iepurașul vostru sa fie măcar la fel de darnic! Sărbători Pascale pline de binecuvântare, belsug și bucurie va dorim și noi, cu tot dragul!
Corina: Thank you to the Romanian community for the wonderful surprise gift delivered in our backyard by Gabriela that I’m sharing now with my lovely daughter Nina. Happy Orthodox Easter!
Diana: I wasn’t in the mood for Easter … not to mention the Easter cooking part.
And then… I got a gift from a very special Easter Bunny, Gabriela.
She left those amazing treats on the porch, and I called her to say thank you. We spoke for about an hour about how she came up with the idea, and she was so inspiring and motivating. I was in awe listening to how she transformed a less happy feeling (we’re in lockdown, none of us is very happy nowadays) into a fountain of energy!
I’m not quite religious, but I believe in humanity and good willingness and acts of kindness and friendship. If supporting each other’s especially when it is most needed, can be a religion I’m in.
I’m impressed to tears by such acts and so grateful.
Now Orthodox Easter for me equates with Happy “Be Kind Day,” folks!
