Community Alternatives Co-op & Fraser Common Farm Cooperative Memorial Project
So many have gained from the collective dreams and efforts of a small, visionary group of people who wanted to create a “village” based on principles of communal living, shared resources, consensus decision-making, and an urban-rural connection between Fraser Common Farm Co-op in Langley and the Community Alternative Cooperative in Vancouver.
Several years ago, the death of elder Kaz Takahashi, who had lived in the community since she and her peers founded it, marked a watershed. She was the last of the original founders to be alive. With her loss came the realization that many of the ties between the farm and the city were disappearing as new members came who hadn’t experienced and didn’t know about the urban-rural foundation of the community. Much of the early history, held by a handful of original members, was in danger of being forgotten.
At the Celebration of Life for Kaz, many people – current and former members of CAC, FCFC and friends of the community expressed the desire to connect and re-connect with the roots, memories and people of the “urban-rural experiment”. This sparked a small ad-hoc committee with representatives of current and former residents of CAC and FFCF to form with the idea to
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- Honour the founders and subsequent members who created and evolved the community
- strengthen the ties between the urban and rural members and the broader network of former community members.
So, to honour the legacy of the founders and other members, and build new relationships, the memorial project was designed to explore the idea of creating a memorial legacy online and through special events at the farm.
It has been an honor and joy to know these people, and as a community which was enriched by the gifts each one offered, we want to honour their memory by speaking their names and sharing the love we have for them.