About NEST
Serving the Nepali community of Thunder Bay, because we understand the journey.
Who We Are
The Nepali Society of Thunder Bay, NEST, is a volunteer-led community organization serving people of Nepali origin and their families in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
We were founded by a small group of Nepali community members who understood what it means to leave home, travel far, and start fresh in a new city. That founding spirit has guided NEST ever since: show up for one another, help where you can, and make sure no one has to navigate this journey completely alone.
NEST is not a government agency. We are not a funded settlement service. We are a community, volunteers looking after one another, organizing together, celebrating together, and building something warm and lasting in Thunder Bay.
Our full story, how NEST came to be and the people who built it, is still being put together. See where that page stands.
The Name and What It Means
NEST stands for Nepali Society of Thunder Bay. But it means more than that.
A nest is a place of warmth and safety. It is where you feel recognized, protected, and at home. When you move far from Nepal and begin building a new life, finding that kind of belonging matters deeply. NEST is that nest away from home.
Why We Exist
Thunder Bay is home to a growing Nepali community, students, workers, families, newcomers, and long-time residents. Each of us arrived with our own story, our own challenges, and our own dreams.
NEST exists to make sure this community has a place to gather, a place to ask questions, a place to celebrate our culture, and a place to find useful guidance when needed. We exist because community is not built by accident. It is built by people who choose to show up.
What We Do
Over the years, NEST has:
- Organized annual community events including Dashain, Teej, Nepali New Year celebrations, and summer picnics
- Supported newcomers with general community guidance and resource pointers
- Hosted immigration and settlement information sessions
- Participated in Thunder Bay's multicultural programs and events
- Supported the Himalayan Thunders, the Nepali football club in Thunder Bay
- Assisted community members with tax filing guidance (volunteer effort)
- Connected community members with each other across the city
We do what we can, with care and commitment, within our capacity as a volunteer organization.
Our Volunteer Spirit
Every board member and every volunteer gives their time freely. There is no salary. There is no paid staff. What exists is a group of people, with their own jobs, families, studies, and responsibilities, who believe that giving back to the community matters.
This is our sewa (service). It is offered with humility, not obligation. NEST belongs to the whole community, not only to the board. We are all community members. We all have a role in looking after one another.
Homeland and Belonging
We do not ask anyone to leave their homeland behind. At NEST, belonging means learning to live well in Thunder Bay while honouring the language, memories, hospitality, resilience, and community spirit that shaped us. We carry Nepal with us, in our festivals, our food, our music, our values, and our care for one another.
We support one another as we settle, adapt, contribute, and grow, not by forgetting who we are, but by becoming rooted in a new place with confidence and care.
We are guests on this land, and we are grateful.
NEST lives, gathers, and works in Thunder Bay, on the traditional land of the Anishinaabe people, within the Robinson-Superior Treaty of 1850. This is also a homeland of the Métis, and the traditional territory of Fort William First Nation, on whose land much of this community sits. We say miigwech, thank you, and we mean it.
Most of us came to this land from Nepal and from other parts of the world. We are newcomers to Turtle Island, guests here. We did not grow up with the history of this land, so we are learning it on purpose, and we are still learning. The treaties, the colonial history, and the daily realities of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples are things we study with respect, not things we inherited.
We have travelled and lived in many places, and we have come to understand that belonging is not only about where you were born. It is about how you show up on the land where you now stand. We want to show up here with gratitude, humility, and respect: as good guests, and as respectful contributors to the wider Thunder Bay community and society.
To the First Nations whose relationship with this land goes back long before any of us arrived, including Fort William First Nation: thank you for the land that now holds our community too. We carry our own homeland in our hearts, and we honour yours beneath our feet.
What NEST Can and Cannot Do
NEST Can
- Provide general community pointers and practical guidance
- Connect newcomers with official resources and settlement agencies
- Organize community events and cultural programs
- Welcome members, volunteers, and supporters
- Point you toward verified official sources
NEST Cannot
- Provide legal, immigration, medical, financial, housing, or employment advice
- Guarantee help, a reply, or a solution to specific requests
- Replace official government, professional, or emergency services
- Serve as an emergency response system
For urgent matters, please contact the appropriate official service or call 911.
Come and find your place at our Chautari.
Whether you just arrived or have been here for years, there is always a place for you at NEST.
