Vanessa Wideski and Robert Thornton both grew up in large families on the tiny Polynesian island of Samoa, so when they connected in Canada, they joke, they had to first check they weren’t already cousins.
But the Polynesian embrace of a large family to help navigate busy, complicated lives is the inspiration of their non-profit Low Entropy Foundation. Fittingly, it’s also the background for their first fundraiser, an authentic lu’au, to be held Saturday in the wellness room at the Port Moody rec centre.
The event, which is already sold out, will feature a tiki bar, Polynesian dancing, including a siva afi, or fire dance, as well as a buffet dinner of authentic Polynesian food, including Hawaiian roasted pork, and palusami and taro.
The proceeds from the event will go to Low Entropy’s nascent program for young people called Youth Empowering Youth.
Wideski founded Low Entropy five years ago when she was trying to find her way through a highly chaotic time in her own life, including going through a divorce. She said youth particularly need a safe space, away from their daily deluge of influences from social media, TV, friends and family, where they can learn to trust themselves and gain the confidence to become stronger, more resilient adults.
Thornton, a director who leads the youth program, said he found that in activities like soccer, football and weightlifting.
“If I didn’t have sports, I would have fallen off the straight and narrow,” he said.
That rigid path included staying in school, developing better emotional intelligence that allows him to cope with life’s curveballs and forging stronger connections with other people.
Wideski navigated her own challenges by forming a little support group of peers that gathered on the beach at Port Moody’s Rocky Point Park. It evolved into a regional online meetup group that now has more than 1,000 members, and, eventually, the formation of her non-profit foundation, whose mission is to foster cooperation and compassion.
“It’s taking ownership for how we show up in the world,” Wideski said. “What we hope to see is one global family where nothing divides us.”
It's sort of a grand vision of a traditional Polynesian family, Thornton said.
“Nobody gets left behind,” he said. “Everyone is taken care of.”
• To learn more about the Low Entropy Foundation, go to lowentropy.ca.
WHAT IS 'ENTROPY'?
According to the Low Entropy Foundation website: "Entropy simply means 'the measurement of disorder.' Something that has high entropy is chaotic and full of disorder. Something that has low entropy is very efficient, it’s organized and harmonious."
