Andrea Hoces Maldonado - 50 Stories for 50 Years (Story # 22)
There are couches gathered around the fireplace, flames glowing against the winter outside. It is cozy. For Andrea Hoces Maldonado, Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House feels like a living room.
“It's something similar to a home, because I don't have a home. I mean, I have a home here, but when you're an immigrant, nothing is like home. Even when I go back to Chile, I don't feel like that is my home either.”
That sense of home drew Andrea to Entre Mujeres, MPNH’s Spanish-language women’s group. But Andrea soon realized the support she needed was not the kind she received by attending a program. It was the kind that came from joining the work behind the welcome.
“So I asked if I could volunteer.”
On Monday afternoons, she greets people at the front desk. During Indigenous Monday Night Dinners, she helps in the kitchen. At events, she sometimes performs with her band.
Somewhere along the way, the people she worked beside became friends, women whose company feels like family.
And then there are the workshops Andrea hosts at MPNH.
Built on Neighborhood Small Grants, each one brings together paper, pens and quiet reflection, inviting people to tell their own stories one folded page at a time.
“Even if the creation is very individual, at the end you realize that it’s something collective when you’re doing it together.”
She calls the booklets zines and describes them as “a very humble tool.” A single sheet of paper becomes eight small pages. People can write, draw, colour or leave a page blank. In Andrea’s workshops, those pages become a place to reflect on memory, change and hope.
The work is quiet. Some participants become emotional. Andrea makes room for whatever arrives without forcing anyone to tell more than they want to tell.
“It’s your story. I’m not going to judge or say if it’s wrong or right.”
At the end of the workshop, Andrea asks a question, something open enough for everyone to answer in their own way. Each person writes a line, folds the paper to hide their answer, and passes it on. When Andrea opens the page, the room has written a poem.
In fifty years, Andrea hopes the house is still here, and still busy. She hopes the people who walk through its doors meet each other the way she has learned to, with patience on the hard days, and gratitude for the quiet work that keeps this place feeling like home.
Story written by Signy Marcyniuk through an interview with the participant during her practicum placement at Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House.
50 Stories for 50 Years at MPNH is a collection of meaningful stories that celebrate the lasting impact our Neighbourhood House has had over the years. These stories come from long-time participants, families, youth, volunteers, community members, and regular visitors whose lives have been touched, supported, or transformed through our programs, services, and connections at the House.
