To the Editor,
We wish to clarify how the butterfly bench, created by artist Jesse Toso and now placed for all to see on Third Avenue, came to be.
The bench was made possible by a Rotary Arts District grant through the Arrowsmith Rotary Club as well as the City of Port Alberni who donated the log and staff time to assist in placement.
Alberni Community and Women’s Services partnered with Alberni Valley Hospice Society in a 2016 grant application to the Arrowsmith Rotary Club. We firmly believed the addition of the work of a local artist would go a long way to ensure the Third Avenue streetscape becomes a beautiful area of town to visit.
We see our block on Third Avenue undergoing a transformation and the butterfly is a symbol of this.
Butterflies are deep and powerful representations of life. Many cultures associate the butterfly with our souls and it has deep meaning within First Nations communities.
Around the world, people view the butterfly as representing endurance, change, hope and life.
Overwhelmingly, cultural myth and lore honour the butterfly as a symbol of transformation because of its impressive process of metamorphosis.
It is this transformation and change Alberni Community and Women’s Services sees in the work we do with women and children who are impacted by abuse and one that also resonates so strongly for Alberni Valley Hospice in their work.
We are thrilled to look out our doors every day and see this wonderful work of art facing our offices.
It has already become a great item of interest and we see many people stopping and taking photos of the bench and of themselves sitting on the bench.
It has become a tourist attraction.
Ellen Frood,
executive director,
Alberni Community and Women’s Services Society
and Theresa Maxemenko,
acting executive director,
Alberni Valley Hospice Society