5,000 square foot garden will provide exercise and opportunity for those who are less fortunate.

A15

Lise Elsliger

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In the last years Moncton's YMCA has been behind many important community- based projects aimed at helping to foster a sense of unity in the community and help those in need. Among its most recent projects is the Community Garden. Although it invites anyone in the community to partake in the creation of this garden, it aims to allow people who cannot afford to buy fresh vegetables to plant the food that they will feed their children. All for free.

The objective of the Community Garden is to create space for people to gather and learn about where their food comes from, all while watching it grow and reaping the benefits of their labour. It comes at an especially important time in consideration of the rising cost of food and the world food crisis that is continually unraveling.

The Community Garden will not only provide the space for people to have access to nutritious foods that they would not normally have access to but it will help educate people on the importance of an active, healthy lifestyle while preventing social isolation.

The size of the garden is almost 5,000 square feet, and will be divided into plots; there are three raised beds for those with mobility challenges.

Zohar El and Bertha Darling, who are responsible to oversee the project, are counting the days until the planting begins, excited to see the whole thing coming together.

El, community support worker at the YMCA, explains: "Basically what we did is create a space for people to come into the YMCA and have a plot to plant in the garden. It is located right behind the Y, between Vaughan Harvey Boulevard and the Y. What we basically did is to open it to the community and advertised and had a couple of meetings and we created a group of people that showed interest. Some of them have a lot of knowledge in gardening. Some of them have none.

"The people planting the garden are people from the surrounding area. They could be retired; they could be clients from the food bank, from Reconnect, or members."

Bertha Darling, Manager of Community Development, explains that other non-profit agencies are also going to participate and have their clients help plant their garden, such as Moncton Headstart, and their participants or clients. "They'll learn, they'll get exercise, they'll have fun," she says. "and get to reap the harvest at the end. And that's what we're hoping will happen. That families will come together. That it will be a special time for them to bond. They're going to be educated; they're going to get exercise. A lot of them, like me, will learn where the food comes from, from the time that they put that little seed in the ground to the time that they harvest it at the end."

Among the goals of the project is to help those who can't afford to buy fresh vegetables for their kids. Darling explains: "We know we have to educate the young people and what better way than with a community garden, specially for the single moms. Single dads too because that's happening today. They don't eat the way they should because they can't afford it. Well here, they have the opportunity if they wish to come and plant their own garden and pick what they want to eat, whether it's carrots or cucumbers. They're going to choose, they're going to look after it from the very start."

Putting this project together involved the support of some important partners, who gathered to make this project come to life, indicating what a municipality can do when joined as a group. These sponsors include the United Way who did a Day of Caring last year, during which they gathered volunteers from the community to get the garden ready to go. "This year they are probably going to do it again," El explains.

"Last year, Co-Op Atlantic provided the seeds and soil for the Day of Caring, and I think they even had a group of people working," El explains. "Home Depot is going to give us a shed to put all the tools in, and some tools and maybe they will get involved with the Day of Caring. The city of Moncton will do the tilling and all the preparation for the soil so that it will be ready for the planting. They will be working with the Moncton fire department."

Another group that will be able to benefit from the program is the physically disabled. "We do have three raised beds for people with physical disabilities. We have the program here called the adult day program and they have different disabilities and they can still join the community garden because it's raised and it's accessible," El explains.

Darling explains that last year they worked with their adult day program clients to help them plant their own garden. "Some are intellectually challenged, physically challenged, socially challenged. Last year, with our pilot project we started with adult day program people. This year, they can't wait to get out there and plant. And they've already started their plants. They're ready to be put in the garden. So they're all excited about doing that. It's wonderful watching it. Some of them are in wheelchairs. Some of them have to walk with walkers. With our raised beds"¦the disabled people they just had a ball out there."

They are hoping the whole thing will start in the next two weeks, with close to 40 gardeners involved. As for long-term goals, they are hoping to put together some kind of a center. "Taking the food from the garden and have maybe cooking classes, budgeting classes," El explains. "Take it a little further so people will really become self-sufficient."

Anyone interested in the project can contact Bertha Darling or Zohar El at 857-0606. Visit the website at www.ymcamoncton.ca