Connecting Communities: Bridging the Gap

June/19/19

Team Connecting Communities, part of Leadership Vancouver Island’s 2018-19 cohort, is proud to share its accomplishments with you.  Our team was able to successfully complete its community project by Saturday, May 25, 2019.

We were able to secure funding, resources and supplies for the first phase of a community garden project.  The first phase was to build a deer fence around the Nanaimo Foodshare Community Garden at the Cline Agri-Health Centre (formerly Westwood Farm).

This could not have been possible without the support and contributions from Coastal Community Credit Union, Coastland Wood Industries, the Longwood Brew Pub, High Line Environmental, Buckerfields, the 49th Parallel Grocery, Rita’s Apron, Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools and SharKare.

Thank you for your generous donations collectively and your commitment to supporting our community.

Another piece of the project was to connect the Central Vancouver Island Multicultural Society (CVIMS) and Nanaimo Foodshare, bridging the gap for newcomers to the Nanaimo community.  Thank you to CVIMS for supporting our vision and promoting volunteer opportunities with its members.  Thanks to the volunteers from different countries, VIU students who shared their skills, and community members who dedicated their time since the fencing project started.

We would like to express our extreme gratitude to the following individuals who allowed our team the opportunity to contribute to such a worthwhile cause:

  • Executive Director of Nanaimo Foodshare Jen Cody
  • Dr. John Cline who provided the space for the garden
  • Nanaimo Foodshare Board Member and Project Lead Craig Evans
  • Executive Director of the Central Vancouver Island Multicultural Society Jennifer Fowler

Their willingness to involve us in the fencing project, the guidance we received while it was in the process of development and their patience for letting us experience how to approach complex problem solving on our own.  It was helpful for us to harness our leadership skills as individuals and as a team. It also allowed us to discover our potentials.

As one of the core themes of the Connecting Communities project was to connect the community, we achieved our goals!  We look forward to hearing how the partnerships between Nanaimo Foodshare and Central Vancouver Island Multicultural Society will continue to grow and benefit the community and newcomers to Nanaimo.

Colleen, Daisy, Shauna, Teena

Connecting Communities

If you would like to find out more about the project, please email connectingcommunities4@gmail.com  

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