This summer, The Stop received a Community Arts grant from the Toronto Arts Council to hire me as your first-ever Storyteller-in-Residence. I’ve spent July and August visiting programs, telling stories, listening to stories, and slowly planting the seeds for a Stop-wide storytelling project. Along the way, I’ve visited Sabor Latino, Healthy Beginnings, a volunteer recognition dinner, Global Roots, the Greenhouse Volunteers, Seeds and Stories (a gardening and storytelling program at Hillcrest Park). I’ve also been at Good Food Market, and am proud to announce that Mary Milne, a dedicated member of the Stop community, created a beautiful new banner that says “Fresh Stories.” At the market, I’ve also had a chance to spend time with the ESL group, swapping stories (most recently, some pretty spooky ones from Mexico!). One of my greatest pleasures is listening to the many people who are part of The Stop’s amazing urban village. Everyone seems to have a story, a proverb, a song to share. On my very first day, I met Tutu Ebofin, an agronomist from Nigeria, who told me some wonderful Yoruba folktales as she planted African thyme. I’ve since heard stories from El Salvador, the Philippines, China, Jamaica, Mexico, Canada, Pakistan, and more.All of these stories carry their own potent wisdom, and should be shared not only within our own community but with the whole city. I’ll be continuing the residency for the next few months, gathering stories for a collection about generosity (The Stop’s key value, I think), social justice, transformation, and, of course, food. I look forward to hearing your stories! Please dan_yashinsky [at] hotmail [dot] com (email me) if you’d like to be involved in this story-collecting project.