‘It’s like an invitation’: Compassion York Region introduces ‘Happy to Chat’ bench in Richmond Hill

Yorkregion.com
Jan. 4, 2023

Bundled up and comfortably seated on a snow-covered bench, Marj Andre was ready to crack a few jokes with her friend Susan Kagan on a sunny winter day in Richmond Hill.

But it is not your regular bench.

The wooden bench just outside the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts is the first “Happy to Chat” bench in the city, the latest initiative by grassroots organization Compassionate York Region, intended to encourage the public to engage in conversations and combat loneliness in the community.

“It’s like an invitation,” Heather Skoll said. “They sit and then someone walks along. When it's someone they don't know from the community and they'll just have a chat.”

The organization received the “Happy to Chat” plaque from the City of Richmond Hill on Dec. 10 and installed it on the bench outside the theatre on Yonge Street.

On the plaque, it reads in finer print: “Sit here if you don't mind someone stopping to say hello.”

Andre, a member of Compassionate York Region, said the plaque dedication was made possible by the Quick Action Grants the group received from the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA).

Earlier in June, Richmond Hill council adopted a proposal from then Ward 4 councillor Raika Sheppard to declare the city a “compassionate community.”

The declaration, endorsed by Compassionate York Region, made Richmond Hill the first city to do so in York region which means it affirms the Charter for Compassion and is committed to restoring compassion and encouraging diversity and cultivating an informed empathy of others.

Compassionate York Region has launched a series of initiatives to encourage engagement and compassion since it was founded in September 2021, from a “Peaceful Picnic” at L’Arche Daybreak to “Golden Rule Day Celebration” at Richmond Hill Central Library.

“To me, a bench epitomizes compassion,” Andre said. “It is in public space and it is a sturdy place where you can invite someone else on.”

As a well-known community leader in Richmond Hill, Andre said she has had a long-held penchant for benches.

Andre said she saw benches as opportunities to connect with the community and get to know strangers, especially at a time when there was reluctance among many people to socialize.

There are people who struggle to get a conversation going and some don’t even know how to say hello to others, Skoll added.

“It's hard for people to say they're lonely … so when there’s a bench that says ‘Happy to Chat,’ it’s OK to be lonely here,” Kagan said.

Everyone feels lonely from time to time. The past couple years have seen a global uptick in loneliness due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the isolation.

“I think people don’t really understand how loneliness causes health problems. We know that now … Let’s prescribe benches instead of medication” Kagan said.

The Happy to Chat bench was only the first step of Compassionate York Region’s effort to engage the community, said Andre, who planned to have more benches in Richmond Hill dedicated as “Happy to Chat” in the future.

“I have a dream of hundreds of benches and I want them better than this. I want funky benches,” Andre said.