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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2010
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Sharing their harvest
◗ FAMILY PLACE
Loss creates ‘chaos’
BY THERESA MCMANUS REPORTER tmcmanus@royalcityrecord.com
Members of the New Westminster Community Gardening Society are sharing the fruits of their labour with the Elizabeth Fry Society. A group of local residents formed the society to support the development and operation of community gardens in New Westminster. On Saturday, they harvested the community plots at the Mary Mount Community Garden at St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church in Sapperton. “This is fresh, organic produce grown using a traditional First Nations technique of using permaculture principles in agriculture,” said Brennan Anstey, chair of the New Westminster Community Gardening Society. “The corn provides support for the beans, which fixate nitrogen for the corn, and the squash acts as groundcover to keep in moisture and keep down weeds.” All the community gardeners have tended to the plots as part of their commitment of volunteer hours for maintaining the garden. The produce is being donated to the Elizabeth Fry Society to help it meet the needs of its clients. “This is part of the commitment we made to the city to help promote food security in New Westminster,” said David Maidman, a member of the society’s board of directors. “I think when you look around at what we have grown this year on this small plot of ground it shows the future potential for urban agriculture in New Westminster.” The society began construction of the garden plots in May, after reaching an agreement with St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church. Produce has been growing in 15 plots on the site that overlooks the Fraser River. Anyone interested in becoming a community gardener can contact the society at nwcommunitygarden@gmail. com or at 778-372-1333. Information is also available on the society’s website at http://www.nwcgs.com.
BY THERESA MCMANUS REPORTER tmcmanus@royalcityrecord.com
Larry Wright/THE RECORD
Growing help: Brennan Anstey of the New Westminster Community Gardening Society. The group is sharing the fruits of their labour with the Elizabeth Fry Society.
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New Westminster Family Place is on a hunt for space for some of its programs after losing a space it has called home for nearly a decade. Executive director Marjorie Staal said the nonprofit is no longer able to use the community room in Royal City Centre for its Friday morning drop-in and Friday afternoon program for immigrant grandparents. Staff learned they would no longer have access to the space when they went to the mall to set up for the program that was set to launch a week later. A security guard told them they were no longer able to use the space. “It means chaos down here,” Staal said. “We had it on our monthly calendar for September. We have been advertising here. We have it on our website that it was coming. It has been like a real bad dream.” Staal had hoped Family Place could at least offer the program for a couple of weeks, in order to reach those people who may not know it was no longer being offered at the mall, but that wasn’t permitted. The programs had been on summer hiatus at the uptown location and were set to resume in September. “We are homeless,” she said about the uptown drop-in. “We originally started that program to encourage the Brow of the Hill neighbourhood and the Uptown neighbourhood because parents up there were finding it trouble-
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