Nanaimo residents are invited to host American visitors arriving April 24. Volunteers can sign up through Discord to spend a few hours with nurses, teachers, IT professionals, and others, offering rides from the ferry, meals, or outings. No sponsorship or payment required, just a friendly welcome.
Chapters
Last year, Toss Nanaimo Infusion brought hundreds of Americans to Vancouver Island, and some of them—nurses, doctors—stayed and are working in our system now. We are doing it again, and Nanaimo, I need your help. In our Discord—it's basically a chat room—Jocelyn and I have set up a channel called Adopt an American. These folks are going to show up on the weekend of April 24th, and we're hoping that some of you will make a one-on-one connection. Pick them up at the ferry, have lunch with them, show them your favorite hiking trail. You don't have to pay for anything. You're not sponsoring them for immigration. It's just a way of thanking them for coming out and supporting our economy. Here are some of the people in there waiting to be adopted. Roz is a nurse from Seattle who works in long-term care and has a real love for the Catholic Church. One of them is a retired education administrator, now a grandmother, who loves hiking and making art. Michael works in IT. He likes tabletop gaming and photography. Another is a pathologist who likes talking research. She'll have her two teens with her. Another is a clinical social worker who likes board games. One is a college chemistry student and a foodie. There's an author and paralegal who loves pickleball. A school psychologist who cares deeply about education and never misses a chance to celebrate a birthday. All these people and many more have already booked their flights. They will be here in April. So if one of them sounds like someone you'd like to hang out with for a couple of hours, go to chat.nanaimoinfusion.ca and join the Adopt an American channel. Canada has always grown one conversation at a time, one neighbor at a time. You don't have to fix the world. You can just show up, meet someone off the floatplane dock, and say welcome. Let me show you around.
