A story and project of inspiration and community from our Host Family Services LifeShare Team in Waterloo:

 

With the prospect of nicer weather to come, and restrictions still in place that limited how we could get involved in the community, the West District Host Family Services LifeShare team decided that the perfect course of action for the summer months would be to focus on a community garden. We wanted a fun way to involve our LifeShare Host Families and connect with the community, also enabling us to give back to those who we are connected to once our garden yields a crop. We loved the idea of acquiring a plot of community garden space at Ignatius Jesuit Centre, a location in North Guelph, where our Host Family Services Office was once housed! We were put onto a waitlist, and finally, the good news came! We were approved for 200 sq feet of plot at the end of May, and we got right to work.
 

We discussed how to involve those who access our services and those within their social circles. We began speaking with our LifeShare Host Families to gauge interest, sent out a flyer, and began to prepare seed kits to get the ball rolling. We had 5-8 homesharers and LifeShare families begin to work on seeds for our garden – lettuce, cucumber, herbs, tomatoes, flowers, and more. And those began to grow! At the end of May, our staff team went out onto the land and prepared it for growing. We weeded, tilled the soil, added mulch from a local farm that we are connected to, and mapped out the space. We planted a few seedlings at this time as well. The seedlings that have been grown by homesharers and LifeShare families are already almost set to transplant. Staff team have began to orient the homesharers and LifeShare families to the land, reviewing guidelines, identifying what is planted where, touring the location, and usually pointing out the cows on site too!

We hope to have a newsletter of progress in a video format, showing the space and identifying what we have on the go, with the help of a homesharer who is involved! We are hopeful that we will have success with our plants, and it has already been a fun and engaging project to take on.

If you have any questions or would like information on how you may be able to get involved, or, if you would like details on our Host Family LifeShare Services, please send an email to gwfamilyhome@christian-horizons.org.