Signs of Hope We Almost Missed:
The Places We Choose to Care For

by Rev. Sheri Spiritual teacher, writer, and founder of Angel Messenger

A hopeful place does not always begin as a beautiful place.

Sometimes it begins as a stretch of pavement where children need somewhere better to play. Sometimes it is land whose water was drained away decades ago. Sometimes it is a path around a lake that needs to be rebuilt so more people can experience what makes it special.

The hopeful part is what happens next: people decide these places are worth caring for.

A Schoolyard Becomes a Place for Everyone

At P.S. 380 in Brooklyn, a schoolyard has been transformed into a green outdoor space for students and neighbors. Children, educators, families, and community members helped shape the design.

The new space includes places to play for children with a range of physical and sensory abilities, including sensory and music panels, accessible ramps, and a quieter cove. Outside school hours, neighbors will be able to enjoy the schoolyard, too.

The change reaches beyond play. Trees will provide shade, while the redesigned ground is expected to capture rainwater that might otherwise add to neighborhood flooding. Where there were two trees, the project has planted forty.

I keep coming back to the people who helped imagine this space. Someone listened to what children and families needed. Then a group of partners turned those needs into a place people can actually use.

That is a sign of hope: a child arriving to play and finding that someone thought about how to welcome them.

A Lake’s Path Tells More of Its Story

At Crawford Lake Conservation Area in Ontario, a rebuilt boardwalk has reopened around the water. New signs along the path were developed with Conservation Halton’s Indigenous Partners Council and scientific partners.

Visitors can learn about the lake’s ecology and scientific importance, as well as its connections to Indigenous history and knowledge. The signs invite people to look more closely at the place they are walking through and the stories it holds.

A boardwalk gives us a way to travel beside a lake. What we learn along the way can change how we see it. We may notice the water, the life around it, and the people whose knowledge helps us understand why this place matters.

There is hope in making room for that fuller understanding.

Giving the Water Its Way Back

In northern Illinois, a different kind of care is just beginning. Lake County Forest Preserves and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are undertaking a long-planned project at Dutch Gap Forest Preserve.

For decades, drainage systems and ditches moved water away so wetlands could be used as farmland. The restoration plan will change that water flow and help bring back wetlands, prairies, savannas, and a more natural stream corridor across the nearly 794-acre preserve.

This story will take time. The work is planned over several years, and the land will need time after that. There is no finished landscape to celebrate yet.

Still, beginning matters. People studied what had changed, made a plan, and committed resources to giving this place a different future. I find hope in that decision, even before we can see all that may grow there.

What We Care For Can Change

These three places are different. A schoolyard, a lakeside path, and a former stretch of farmland each ask for a different kind of attention.

Yet each story began with people looking closely enough to recognize a need. Children needed a welcoming place to play. Visitors needed a path and a fuller way to understand the lake. Drained land needed water to move through it again.

We may not be able to rebuild a boardwalk or restore hundreds of acres. We can still ask a question that belongs in all three stories:

What has been placed within my reach to care for?

It might be a shared space, a person who feels overlooked, or a small corner of our community that could become more welcoming. Care can begin by listening to those who know the place best. It can begin by noticing who has trouble getting in. It can begin with the choice to keep showing up while change takes time.

May these stories remind us that hope can be built into the places we share—through attention, welcome, and the work of caring for what is there.

Peace, Love, and Grace,
Rev. Sheri

Sources

Help hope reach one more person: These stories remind us what care can make possible. Through Angel Messenger’s Compassion Projects, you can help offer practical support and encouragement to someone facing a difficult season.

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