People who depend on ProjectSHARE for their food supply find fresh produce to be a godsend, grown by clients themselves in Niagara’s three community gardens.
CannTrust—a licensed medical and recreational cannabis grower—launched its national social “responsibility platform,” called We Care, with a celebratory dinner in the Community Garden in Niagara Falls Tuesday night.
“Our Lady of the Scapular Church allows us to use” property behind the Thorold Stone Road church, said Jim Ferraro, a board member of ProjectSHARE, “and it’s ideal because it’s on a bus route. A lot of our clients don’t have cars. They come and grow their own fruits and vegetables,” he explained.
Each plot is designated to a client, and a separate children’s garden is tucked in among the tended plots that sprout everything from arugula to rhubarb.
“More than 30 per cent who use our help are children,” said Niagara Falls resident Bill Scott, a volunteer with ProjectSHARE for 20 years.
“I saw there was a need, and the need is growing every year.”
Diane Corkham, executive director of ProjectSHARE, has watched the project grow from one plot to serving 200-plus families.
“We’re growing thousands of pounds of food,” she said, adding that one ProjectSHARE client stated, “When I was given this plot, it felt like a million dollars.”
CannTrust’s support “has enabled us to grow raised beds, and our gardening and cooking classes,” continued Corkham. “We had a three-year contract with the Ontario Trillium Foundation,” which was ending, “so our funding was tenuous.”
Jo Low, who oversees the three gardens, said the Niagara Falls site was planted in 2006, “when we realized most of the food coming to ProjectSHARE was highly processed. This property was just a grassy area the church had to pay to cut. In 2010, Glengate Alliance Church” opted in, “and now we have 60 plots there. Three years ago, Westlane High School started a community garden, and the students there help us plant and then harvest it.”
“Community Care in St. Catharines also has a garden,” said Low, who belongs to the Niagara Regional Gardening Network. To maximize all produce, she runs canning and preserving workshops at the Niagara Falls Community Health Centre.
“We have a lot of newcomer families to Canada, who are very knowledgeable about gardening.”
An Indian family, for example, has introduced bitter melon, white eggplant, and okra, she said, and the Eimans, a family of Syrian refugees, grow fava beans and cress.
Ivan Eiman and his wife have four children, ranging in age from one year and 10 months to 12 years old.
“We get fresh vegetables and we have fun with the kids” gardening, he told ThoroldNews.
“Even the youngest helps,” he smiled.
“My family background is farming, so I love to work in the garden. We make tabouleh from parsley and fava beans.”
Sam Piccarillo tends a three-generational family plot.
“I started here in 2006 and in 2010, we moved to Glengate,” she stated. “It’s been excellent for my family. We always have fresh produce, and it’s so much fun to grow your own stuff. When I go into the garden, that’s my therapy. I started with my mother and my kids love to come now. It’s a community. All the gardeners share information; they share plants.”
Hospice Niagara is another beneficiary of CannTrust's We Care project, and will receive $25,000 annually for three years.
“One of our dreams was to start a music therapy program,” said executive director Carol Nagy. “We have been working for years to find a corporate sponsor. We are so lucky that the We Care program saw that vision and shared that dream for us, so every client will have an opportunity to participate in music.”
Nagy shared Hospice Niagara’s vision: “It’s about living well; about making sure we live every moment with meaning and quality,” and added that music has therapeutic effects for its end-of-life clients.
Michael Camplin, general manager of CannTrust, said it employs 4,000 people, and has recently opened a Fenwick location.
The company’s We Care program was designed “to invite meaningful change in our community,” he explained. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to be able to help with 4,000 pounds a year of organic produce. It’s also an honour to sponsor Hospice Niagara with their music program.”
Since lifting people out of poverty is one pillar of the We Care platform, it will donate $50,000 to the Canadian Alliance to End Homeless, which is dedicated to eradicating homelessness.
With a head office and a second office in Vaughan, CannTrust’s recent expansion to Pelham means “We grow all our product here,” said Morgan Cates, director of communications.
“We purchased land in B.C. as well. We employ people from across Niagara and from Pelham Cares” at the flagship Perpetual Harvest Greenhouse facility, she told Thorold News. “We saw ProjectSHARE was at risk, and the music therapy program needed funding, so we stepped in.”
And while the company continues growing, the stigma around cannabis use is decreasing, said Cates.
“We’re hiring everything from scientists to security guards to bud trimmers. As a medical business and licensed medical and recreational cannabis growers, we’re committed to health and wellness; from (alleviating) pain to neuromuscular disease. I think when people really take the time to speak to patients themselves, it helps reduce the stigma a lot. When they're seeing the benefits of the products, it really helps open their eyes.”
More information is available at www.ProjectShare.ca, www.HospiceNiagara.ca, www.CAEH.ca, and www.CannTrust.com
