Thorncliffe Park Women's Committee celebrates first harvest with Premier Wynne

TORONTO, Sept. 12, 2013 /CNW/ - On August 29 the Thorncliffe Park Women's Committee was thrilled to welcome and tour special guests including Premier Kathleen Wynne, Councillor John Parker as well as members of the media, project funders, and supporters through their pop-up container garden in Thorncliffe Park.

Guests enjoyed the fresh flavours of the garden and learned from the volunteer gardeners from the Women's Committee all about the vegetables that were being harvested, the unique containerized gardening system that is being piloted and why they are so excited to be part of this initiative.

"It was a great event and a wonderful opportunity for the garden volunteers to showcase their good work.  This garden is one way of engaging women to grow local and culturally diverse food in urban areas.  It is the first garden of its kind on private property and could be a model for Thorncliffe Park" explained Sabina Ali, the Coordinator for the Thorncliffe Park Women's Committee.

Premier Wynne, who is also Ontario's Minister of Agriculture, helped the women with the morning's harvest and was enthusiastic in her support for this local growing initiative.

This container gardening project in Thorncliffe Park focuses on an innovative method of growing healthy food, supported with community engagement and an aim to demonstrate and build the foundation for a local social enterprise based on local, sustainable food production.

To help gain gardening skills and pilot the pop-up garden approach, the Committee has partnered with Verity Dimock, of The Growing Connection.  Verity has trained the volunteers in the use of the EarthBox®, a highly space and water efficient system for growing vegetables.

"Our goal is to engage women in sustainable urban food production and to demonstrate the potential for expanding the pilot, including revenue generating activities" explains Suzanne Karajaberlian with Summerhill, a local business who has partnered with the Thorncliffe Park Women's Committee and Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office to deliver this project.

This project has been funded by The Home Depot Canada Foundation, The McLean Foundation and Summerhill and is supported by Morguard properties.

About Thorncliffe Park:
Thorncliffe Park is the home to over 30,000 people, who live in 34 high rise buildings off one main street in an area that is approximately two square kilometers; it is densely populated and very diverse.

Image with caption: "Thorncliffe Park Women's Committee celebrates first harvest with Premier Wynne (CNW Group/Summerhill)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20130912_C6709_PHOTO_EN_30762.jpg

SOURCE: Summerhill

For more information on the project, please contact:
Sabina Ali, Thorncliffe Park Women's Committee, Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office.
416-421-3054 ext 236, [email protected]