Cambie Park Community Garden (CPCG) is one of the many community gardens in Vancouver that is lovingly run and maintained by a dedicated group of nature lovers. In the early spring of 2024, the association made the decision to replace the old garden boxes which were wooden and rotting with new metal ones. The new garden boxes significantly increased the beauty of the space and inspired one of the garden members to source several sets of chairs and tables for free to create seating areas within the garden. The hope was to create seating areas for use by garden members, but also to encourage the local community to spend time in the garden, creating opportunities to learn more about food production and local plants and generally enjoy the space. The garden itself is located next to a playground and a large housing complex which houses mainly young families and seniors. The donated chairs did not come with cushions and unfortunately, as with all community garden spaces, the garden had experienced theft of items in the past. With this is mind the garden decided to apply for a grant via Neighborhood Small Grants as purchasing the badly needed new garden boxes had depleted the association’s reserve funds, in addition to requiring contributions from each member. With the $500 dollar grant from the Neighborhood Small Grants the CPCG was able to find a combination of second hand and new cushions, as well as to purchase locks and wiring to secure the chairs and tables to deter theft. All funds were used, and we were able to achieve all the goals set out in the initial grant application.
In running the project, it was a more difficult than originally anticipated to find good quality, secondhand cushions. Finding cushions second hand was a goal as it reduced the carbon footprint of the project, but also helped to keep costs lower. A few new cushions were also purchased on sale to ensure enough cushions were available for all the seating areas and have resulted in us having a few extra sets in case of damage/theft in the future. In running this project, the organizers learned how difficult it can be to coordinate through email and text message – helpful advice to those running projects in the future would be to meet in person when planning to increase buy-in in the project, but also to make the planning process smooth and keep communication clear and on point.
A memorable moment for the organizers was the excitement of initially setting up all the seating areas and having accomplished all the goals set out in the initial grant application. All the cushions fit and the donated chairs were transformed into comfortable places to sit and gather! The organizers are also pleased to share that they have seen the seating areas being used as intended, by the local community in addition to the community garden members themselves. We’ve also noticed an increase in members of the local community wandering through the garden to admire the plants, drawn into increased engagement with what has becomes a much more welcoming and comfortable space over the past several months.
A huge thank you to Neighbourhood Small Grants for making this project possible!
