Landcare believes in supporting the community. Over the years we have done this in a variety of ways. We regularly participate in Daily Bread Food Bank events, and, when a project that provides value to to the community or the local environment needs support, we are there to help. Here is a synopsis of a few of our Community projects.
In mid-September the call for volunteers to help with a tree planting event was receiced from Landscape
Ontario. Landcare jumped at the opprotunity to participate in this inagural tree planting in the Trees for Life Foundation (TLF) initiative to double the urban forest canopy in the GTA by 2050. On Sat Oct 27, 2012, a group of Landcare employees braved the wet weather to participate in planting 42 large caliper trees at Archbishop Romero Catholic Secondary School. We look forward to participating in upcoming TLF events.
The Stop’s Global Roots Garden, located on the south side of the Wychwood Barns on Christie Street, is a cluster of seven demonstration gardens, tended by seniors and youth from the community, growing food products from their native countries. Many of the beds are raised and most are wheelchair-accessible.
Landcare was initially asked to participate in the design phase of this unusual project. In the end, we
completed much of the installation for the accessible, senior friendly demonstration gardens in partnership with Martin Hunnius from Said and Done, donating time and materials to this excellent community project.
Landcare sponsors the High Park Baseball association by maintaining the infield of their ball diamond.
Landcare regularly participates in food drives and food sorting events to support the less fortunate in our community.
This spring (2015) we were invited to be part of a volunteer gardening project at the United Way Community Living Centre in downtown Toronto by BMO’s
Corporate Audit Division. The Centre provides adults, with physical and intellectual challenges, a daily centre to socialize and receive assistance as needed. These members spend a lot of time in the centre’s garden, and we were pleased to help create a wonderfully colourful space for them this year. Each year the BMO Corporate Audit Division raises funds to purchase annual flowers for the centre, and then they spends a day planting for the centre.
Landcare’s participation involved selecting and purchasing trays of brightly coloured annuals on behalf of the Corporate Audit Division. Our wholesale purchasing power provided many more annuals than in other years and saved the Coordinator a lot of time buying from local retail outlets. We were happy to be presented with this opportunity to help the United Way Community Living Centre and the results were greatly appreciated by the members who make use of the centre every day.
In 2010 and again this spring (2013), the Greenwood College mentorship program reached out to Landcare to work with them and the students from two Regent Park schools to improve the outdoor areas of the school properties. The students of the Duke of York School worked hand-in-hand with Landcare and the Greenwood College representatives to create gardens where none existed. At the Nelson Mandela Park Public School, Greenwood College, Landcare and the students built and planted timber planters to help make the school a beautiful place.
Landcare created an outdoor classroom and study garden for the students at Mountview School. The classroom was created using large armour stone, arranged in a semicircle under the shade of a large tree.
