Grand opening of Grace Centre's new community garden in Sydenham

May 10, 2012

Photo: Kathyrn O'Hara of the SFCS with Lindsay Abrams and students who helped construct the SFCS's Grace Centre's new community garden

Over 50 students from Sydenham and Sharbot Lake high schools assisted in the community garden project at the new headquarters of Southern Frontenac Community Services (SFCS), the Grace Centre in Sydenham.

The project was part of Change the World-Ontario Youth Challenge, a program that encourages students to volunteer in their local communities. The community gardens were built by students and community volunteers over a three-week period. The gardens will provide fresh produce to the food bank and will help support the SFCS's Adult Day Program, in which participants will have a chance to garden outdoors in the specially designed raised beds. The project was supported by a one-time grant through the Change the World program, and grade 12 Sydenham High School student Lindsay Abrams was hired by SFCS to lead the project. Lindsay was assisted by Jennifer Linton, coordinator of the SFCS Food bank, Daryl Silver of the Silverbrook Garden Centre in Sydenham, Sue Clinton, the current chair of the Loughborough Emergency Christmas and Relief Fund and her husband Bob, and Team Depot, the Home Depot team of volunteers. In just three short weeks the students and volunteers constructed two raised beds, which will be used for fresh herbs, along with two ground plots that will also be used to grow fresh produce.

A number of guest speakers spoke at the celebration ceremony about the importance of community gardens. Joan Cameron, board chair of SFCS, stressed that saving the world begins close to home. “Changing the world starts with ourselves and by doing a project such as this we are providing opportunities to people who live in the community to serve others in the community. This is a project that we envision helping the community for many years to come and it could not have been done without the expertise offered by a number of knowledgeable members of the community.” The project will continue into the future and there are plans in the works to develop more gardens, which will be used to grow fresh produce to provide food bank families with a basket of fresh produce once per month. Lindsay Abrams spoke of the dedication of students who worked tirelessly on the project over the three weeks. “This was something that the students and I really enjoyed doing and is something that we are really proud of.”

Following the speeches, guests were treated to a free concert by local band Rock Bottom and a BBQ courtesy of the Sydenham and District Lions Club.