If you’re anything like Shannon O’Dea Dawson, you want to welcome people instead of making them feel alienated. Like a trespasser.
So when she noticed people were primarily using her backyard as a place to cut through, she decided to make a welcoming pathway, instead of putting up a fence to try and keep people out. She even put up a sign near the garden to welcome people. The signs reads: “Welcome to Fay’s Way”, Fay being a nickname for her late father, Fabian O’Dea, who passed in 2017.
Fabian was an avid gardener, and so the laneway serves both as a commemoration for him, as well as a testament to he and his daughter’s desire to welcome and connect with people, as opposed to the alternative.
The story has garnered national attention, even making CBC News and other outlets.
People just need more good news these days, it seems.
As an interesting sidenote, this story was one of the first to spark the efforts behind building CanadaLoves.ca.
Amazing how a genuine act of kindness can have resounding residual effects all over the world.
* Photo Credit: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/fay-s-way-st-john-s-path-1.4777509
