Help out at our community house in Toronto, Canada

Details

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  Description

  Update: Currently we have an opening in the loft space from 27th Jan - 7th February
  followed by availability on the 23rd of February.
  
  Top skills we are looking for right now:
  
  - Cleaning
  - Starting an indoor herb garden
  - Yoga
  - Video making for basic house guidelines
  - Basic repairs for house maintenance or help with renovation projects
  
  My name is Swetha and I am managing this profile on behalf of Steve until March 2023 while he is travelling in Europe.
  
  We will also have the Yurt on the deck available for February for one work exchanger.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Projects around the house may include a new basement bathroom, shelf building, misc interior renovation, etc. Also, there is plenty of opportunity for helping with cooking and cleaning.
  
  Note: We don't always book people many months in advance, we prefer to wait until closer to the start dates so we can see how much space we have. Some people here stay longer than they initially planned so we don't always know the timing of openings long in advance.
  
  Note: Due to the ongoing Coronavirus, please let us know if you have been around people with Covid and what steps you are taking to avoid getting Covid. Most of us are vaccinated but four people here are not.
  
  If you would like to help, please let us know your range of availability and preferred length of stay.
  
  Spaces that may be available are small loft room that is accessible by a short ladder. A small yurt that we have on our back roof deck. It has electricity and a heater. And sometimes other bedrooms when people go away.
  
  We are an 11-person vegetarian community house in Toronto. My name is Steve and living here is also Jeff (from Hong Kong), Luke (from Canada/Africa), Swetha and her brother Shreyas (from India), Kamilla (Philippines/ Canada), Charlotte, Vishal, Karma, Sarah (from Canada), plus shorter term work exchanger(s). Languages spoken in the house include English, French, Hindi, Urdu, Spanish, Swahili, Bengali, Hindi, Swiss, Tamil, and Mandarin.
  
  Toronto is a great place to visit with vibrant neighbourhoods, bike-friendly streets, lots of festivals, farmers' markets, waterfront parks and an island park you can reach by ferry. etc. The house is placed close to transit and has wonderful biking lanes.
  
  We are looking for people who are either older (our house is mostly made up of people in their mid 20's to early 50's) or those in their early 20's who already have some experience living independently.
  
  We are especially open to people who are keen to try a vegetarian diet and interested in spiritual activities like meditation, chanting, yoga and/or prayer. We are a spiritually-focused house. Most of us practice a faith of one form or another.
  
  We typically make daily vegan meals (feasts) and often a breakfast or other preparations. We typically shop at farmers' markets and food co-ops.
  
  We also have an environmental focus -- we are into natural building, avoiding plastic packaging and products, eating vegetarian or vegan, and not wearing/using chemically-scented products.
  
  Are you OK with a chemical-free home? i.e: no perfumes, or scented soups, or shampoos? Unless natural and organic.
  
  Includes high-speed internet, house phone and laundry soap. We have guest bikes available. To support a peaceful atmosphere, we are looking for those wanting to live without the distraction or temptation of TV and radio, cigarettes and alcohol.
  
  We are located on a quiet street (1 block from the subway and very close to downtown). We have a large tree-shaded front porch and back deck. Our three-storey house has eight bedrooms, a guest room and two bathrooms (soon to be three). We have an infrared cedar sauna and workshop in the basement.
  
  Ecological features include using Bullfrog Power (green energy provider), front load washing machine, clothes lines for drying, low flush toilets, efficient fireplace insert where on cool nights we can burn scrap wood, a vegetable garden, and a low-on-the-food-chain vegetarian/vegan kitchen with an emphasis on organics and locally-grown foods.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Charity Work

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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  UN sustainablity goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Cultural exchange and learning about community living. People will learn about vegan cuisine, environmental food choices and maybe also renovation of an old house, yoga and gardening.

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  Help

  We looking for about 20 hours a week in exchange for a room, full use of the house and basic food ingredients. Our shared food is cooked from scratch, so the more help we get the better we all eat. :-) We can provide some training.
  
  Volunteer work options:
  Top skills we are looking for right now:
  
  - Cleaning
  - Starting an indoor herb garden
  - Yoga
  - Video making for basic house guidelines
  - Basic repair renovations
  
  
  There is also cleaning and stuff to make in the kitchen. You can cook a full meal for the entire house, help others cook, or just make single shared items such as soup, hummus, muffins, etc. We can teach you some of this. 
       We also have a webpage. So there may be helping to write articles, create recipes and cooking videos.
       Other possibilities include leading a yoga session, teaching French (if you know that language), art, and crafts, sewing or gardening.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  Bengali (Bangla): Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Hindi: Fluent
  Tamil: Fluent
  Chinese (Mandarin): Fluent
  French: Intermediate
  Swahili (Kiswahili): Intermediate
  Spanish: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  We are always looking for Language exchange if you were willing to conduct a class.
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  Accommodation

  Small bedroom or guest/meditation room. Sometimes housemates go away and more rooms become available.

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  What else ...

  Our home is bug-free.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  We generally have a good high speed wifi connection but a lot of people in the house are using it, or you can connect with ethernet.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  You would need to park on the street and buy a parking pass which is about $25 per week

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  Can possibly accept pets

  Please check in with us. We currently have a cat living on the 3rd floor of the house.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  Hours expected

  About 4 hours per day 5 days a week, a couple hours on the weekend cooking and/or cleaning

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