Stories of Place
Stories of Place
One question.
Five gatherings.
Many stories.
One community listening to itself.
Stories of Place is a free, five-part public storytelling series built around a single question:
What helps people feel they belong?
At each gathering, local storytellers share how belonging takes shape in this place—through welcome, home, opportunity, relationship and voice. Together, the five gatherings trace a journey from simply being present in a community to being recognized as part of it.
VOICES
Listen
Three storytellers share short readings and thoughts rooted in the Fraser Valley.
Talk
Voices of Belonging
Join the conversation
Community Gathering
Have a short conversation with your neighbours.
Before we hear the stories, we start with the people sharing the room. A brief, fast-paced exchange with your neighbours introduces you to one another and opens the evening's conversation. No preparation needed, just curiosity.
Join us for a dialogue on how stories foster connection and collective growth.
After a moderated panel discussion with the authors, we open the floor to you. Ask a question, share a reflection, or pick up a thread from one of the stories. This is your chance to engage directly with the storytellers.
A space for shared conversation and the power of collective belonging.
Stories linger, and so can you. For half an hour after the program, the room stays open to keep talking with fellow guests and to meet the authors and moderator.
Leave a mark
Every story told here becomes part of a larger one. We invite you to add yours.
Before you arrive: When you register, share a brief thought on this gathering's theme. We'll add it to our Community Wall, a growing record of what belonging looks like to the people who live here.
Before you leave: Add a single anonymous sentence to the Belonging Wall.
No name and no explanation, just one true line about an aspect of belonging.
Get Involved
Help Stories of Place reach more neighbours and strengthen our community connection.
Share the Series
Invite a Friend
Become a Partner
Spread the word online or in person to help others find their place in our shared narrative.
Bring someone new to a gathering—belonging begins with a simple act of welcome.
Help keep these gatherings free and inclusive for all by sponsoring the series. Your gift nurtures our shared roots and deepens our community connection.
Why Stories Matter?
Because data can’t hug you. In fact, it can hide the real truth.
We’ve run the numbers. We’ve built the policies. We’ve held the meetings. And spreadsheets still haven’t figured out how to make someone feel they belong.
Belonging is built on something far less efficient and far more powerful: neighbours listening to each other’s stories. A single story can do what no policy quite manages. It turns a label into a life, an assumption into understanding, and “those people” into “our neighbours.”
That’s why Stories of Place exists. It’s five free gatherings at UFV Abbotsford, where local storytellers share what it means to belong here. The rest of us do the most quietly radical thing a community can do: listen.
Fair warning: exposure to real human stories may cause unexpected empathy, revised opinions, and a sudden inability to reduce people to categories. Proceed accordingly.
Read the full essay:
The Power of Storytelling: Why Shared Stories Are Essential to Building Thriving Communities