Volunteer Appreciation

As we steadily approach the end of 2011, and thus the last volunteer events of the year, I'd like to extend a warm thank-you to all who have contributed in some way this year. In 12 months as working as EYA's Volunteer Coordinator, I've been priviliged to work alongside some truly stellar volunteers that have shared their time, energy, knowledge and humour to make our time in the gardens and at outreach events really enjoyable. I've personally worked with 378 different volunteers this year, and EYA on the whole has had 514 individuals lending a hand to make a difference in our communities. It's been wonderfully inspiring to meet and talk to so many engaged, passionate, and curious volunteers.

Together we've:

• grown and cared for plants in over 25 garden plots

• maintained an orchard

• produced 1,000s of packages of our own “urban seeds” (514 packages in 2 hours remains the record to beat!)

• saved and processed another crop of seed from the Youth Garden

• maintained and supported the Means of Production (artists') Garden

• attended numerous community / harvest / environmental events

• moved approximately 450 cubic feet of soil / compost (405 cubic ft in one day!!!)

• impressed numerous pre-schoolers with our “Wiggly Worm” vermicomposting workshop

• supported the food bank and local community kitchens with volunteer-grown produce from the Youth Garden

• removed more horsetail, himalayan blackberry, gout weed and morning glory from the gardens than anyone probably cares to remember!!!

• got our craft on and produced adorable felt gnomes and beautiful (invasive) English-Ivy wreaths for Rhizome Cafe's “Crafts for a Cause” event

• contributed to Vancouver's Food Strategy by sharing our ideas at our recent “Food Animation Session” (blog post coming up!)

Quite the list of achievements! Needless to say, we couldn't have done it without you. I've certainly learned a huge amount from our activities over the last year and I hope you've all taken away something positive from our time together too. Hopefully we'll see many of the same faces down at the garden in the new year. If you don't have the time to devote to volunteering and are looking for a means of staying connected and supporting EYA, you might want to consider joining us as a member.

Our last volunteer session of the year will be this Saturday (December 17th) from 1-3 pm. We'll be making a start on packaging up some of our saved heritage seeds as part of our Urban Seeds Program. Come on down to learn about seed saving, make new friends and enjoy the warmth of the wood fire. We'll be in the Eco-Pavilion, which is the large timber building with solar panels on the roof located in the Strathcona Community Garden (map).We'll resume our volunteer activities on Saturday, January 7th, same time, same place.

Until then, wishing you all the very best for the holidays and a happy new year.

Claire, Volunteer Coordinator