First thing on Monday, October 26th, GreenUP Ecology Park Stewards gathered around the campfire at GreenUP Ecology Park where they were treated to a warm breakfast and a cup of hot coffee on their final volunteer shift of the season.
Each Monday morning since May, this dedicated crew of volunteers started their week ready to plant, water, transplant, clean, edge, harvest, and did whatever it took to keep close to five acres of demonstration gardens at GreenUP Ecology Park looking beautiful.
As the gardening season comes to a close, we want to take an opportunity to thank our Ecology Park Stewards for their dedication and commitment to the Park. Last year, these volunteers contributed almost 1,000 hours at Ecology Park.
They have pruned shrubs, planted trees, potted new stock, and watered the nursery during the hottest days of the summer — all on their own volunteered time. The group agrees that harvesting herbs and garlic this fall was easily one of their favourite volunteer days, enjoying each other’s company and the fruits of their labour.
To close off the 2015 gardening season, the Ecology Park Stewards planted a tree — a Bronte Oak from heritage tree stock — to commemorate their time together, to celebrate their many accomplishments over the season, and to leave yet another legacy at the GreenUP Ecology Park.
When this tree reaches maturity around 75 to 100 years from now, its super-canopy will stretch as wide as it is tall and will shade a large area of the south side of Ecology Park. Volunteers know that this tree is an important addition to the park after so many Ash trees have been lost to Emerald Ash Borer in the past year.
For more than 20 years, volunteers have been the backbone of GreenUP. The success of so many of our programs has relied on the generous donation of volunteer time, ideas, skills, and enthusiasm. In 2014, over 370 GreenUP volunteers contributed 10,000 hours of volunteer time! We continue to be committed to ensuring that volunteering with GreenUP is a positive and rewarding experience for community members and an empowering way for individuals to take action towards fostering a sustainable community.
This October, over 80 volunteers contributed over 436 combined hours of volunteer time over four days to “depave” a 250m2 section of a parking lot at Wireless Solutions on Lansdowne Street. Volunteers prepared the newly liberated soil, spread compost and river stone, and planted a rain garden in place of the asphalt. Volunteers demonstrated how hard surfaces in urban areas can be changed into green space by replacing the areas with native plants and trees reducing run off and providing more infiltration of rain.
The GreenUP Store & Resource Centre also has unique volunteer opportunities. Our volunteer store associates provide free resources to the community about issues ranging from composting to water quality. Volunteers also sell equipment and products guaranteed to help individuals reduce their environmental footprint. As the face of our organization, GreenUP Store & Resource Centre volunteers are a vital link between GreenUP and the public.
There are many different types of volunteer opportunities at GreenUP because of the varied programs and services offered by the organization. GreenUP volunteers are gardeners, planners, photographers, retail specialists, event organizers, and are ultimately, some of our organization’s greatest ambassadors.
As the volunteer season comes to a close for many of our programs, we extend a sincere and warm thank YOU to all of our volunteers for your time given to make our programs so successful in 2015.
For more information about current GreenUP volunteer opportunities, please visit www.greenup.on.ca/support-us/volunteer.
All photos by Karen Halley.
