Cultivating Change

In times of uncertainty, resilience is often framed as an individual trait—something we must summon on our own. But what if resilience is less about standing alone and more about growing together?

At our January Thoughtful Thursday gathering, Cultivating Resilience through Cultivating Community, guest speaker Hristina Petrovska invites us to reimagine resilience as something that emerges from shared labor, shared learning, and shared love for the living world.

As Food Systems Program Coordinator at Kalamazoo Valley Community College’s Food Innovation Center, Hristina works at the intersection of food, climate, and community. Through hands-on classes like gardening, beekeeping, and tree care, as well as youth programs that connect children directly to soil and plants, she helps create spaces where people can learn skills while also forming relationships—with one another and with the earth.

These gatherings do more than teach practical knowledge. They cultivate joy. They remind us that stewardship can be an act of love, and that caring for land and food systems can reconnect us to our deepest values. When we approach climate and community work from a place of curiosity, celebration, and shared responsibility, resilience becomes something we practice together.

Join us on January 29 at 7 PM on Zoom for a conversation that nourishes both hope and action—and plants seeds for a more connected, sustainable future.

To register, visit tinyurl.com/uuccfoodhub26. A recording of this conversation will be made available to everyone who registers.