The St. Paul’s Community Garden volunteers and organizers were given a Spirit Award by Community Food Share and MPP McDonell. Left to right are Alison Summers, MPP Jim McDonell, Tom Clapp; front: Jane Schoones from Community Food Share, Avery Summers, Jameson Summers and Leslie Levere. Morin photo
WINCHESTER – The community garden at the St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Winchester is resting now to get ready for a busy spring.
Sun., Oct. 25 marked a special occasion for the community garden now in its third year.
MPP Jim McDonell presented the volunteer community garden group with a Spirit Award. The award recognizes all of the work a volunteer group does for its community. Jane Schoones from Community Food Share was also on hand to present the group with another Spirit Award.
The garden is a partnership between St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church and Community Food Share, with St. Paul’s providing the use of their land and water and Community Food Share benefiting from the harvest for food bank clients at their different locations.
The size of the garden was almost tripled this summer.
“With this increased size, in addition to Community Food Share, which received the lion’s share of the harvest, we were also able to donate some of the vegetables to J.W. MacIntosh Seniors’ Support Centre in Williamsburg for their Meals on Wheels program for seniors,” said volunteer coordinator Leslie Levere.
The garden produced 535 pounds of fresh produce.
“The success of the garden was due to the many volunteers and donations of supplies and funds by local businesses,” said Levere.
MPP McDonell was impressed with the success of the garden.
He mentioned how the garden was helpful to those who did not have room for one of their own.
He felt getting outside during these COVID-19 restrictive times was important, and what could be more fun than working in a garden.
The idea of having more community gardens in every part of the township appealed to him. “We have lots of open space communities that could be used,” said McDonell.
In the New Year, the volunteers will start making their plans for another season.
They will be putting out a call for more volunteers.
Those interested can find out more by getting in touch with the team leader for Community Food Share at 613-898-0781; Email: admin@communityfoodshare.ca
Joseph Morin is the Editor of the Eastern Ontario AgriNews, and the Record. He is, despite years of practice, determined to eventually play the guitar properly. He has served the Eastern Ontario community as a news editor, and journalist for the past 25 years with the Iroquois Chieftain, Kemptville Advance, West Carleton Review, and Ottawa Carleton Review in Manotick. He has never met a book he did not like.
