Thank you so much Lower Mainland Green Team participants for your hard work and enthusiasm:
Aaron, Adrian, Alexander, Amos, Andrea, Behnam, Bowie, Brownie, Calvin, Carson, Gary, Geoff, Gillian, Haiyan, Harman, Harry, Hoi Ming (Helin), Hong, James, Jan, Jennifer, Jie, Jiwon, Katia, Marcus, Mina, Ray, Roberta, Ronal, Ronald Mateo, Stephen, Steven, Sylvie, Tarrah, Tin Yau (Tiann) and Wei!
We had an amazing time building on our past restoration work at this park by removing invasive English ivy and English holly! Despite a rainy day, everyone was positive and excited to be outside and meeting new people, which showed through their fantastic work and smiling faces. Keep reading our impacts, highlights and more from the day…
Impacts
- 36 community members engaged
- 17 people visited this park for the first time
- 112 hours contributed to habitat restoration
- 9 people removed invasive plants for the first time
- 7 cubic metres of invasive plants were removed (equivalent to the volume of 44 bathtubs!)
- 158 square metres of habitat revitalized
Highlights
- This was our first activity in White Rock of 2024!
- A forecast of 80% chance of rain didn’t keep people away. We all had a blast and laughed as we became one with the mud!
- When asked in our circle of introductions what everyone was grateful for, many people noted the rain, family and the opportunity to meet new people and participate in this activity!
- Community members joined us from across the Lower Mainland, including from White Rock, Surrey, Langley, Delta, Burnaby, Richmond and Coquitlam
- People of all ages, backgrounds and experience levels came out including students from Seaquam Secondary Volunteering, families, returning LMGTers, first timers and newcomers from China and Iran
- Haiyan moved from China 3 months ago and has an educational background on plants. It was so cool to learn that she used to organize similar activities in China!
- Everyone enjoyed refueling with some homemade vegan brownies, hot chocolate, veggies with dip and more!
- Extra pairs of gloves were much appreciated so that people could trade their wet, muddy ones for a fresh dry pair when needed. Nothing beats this feeling! (aside from dry hands perhaps…)
- Special thank you to:
- Jiwon, Ray and Adrian for arriving early to help set up and hand out parking passes
- Harman, Wei and Adrian for helping set up our snacks
- Tarrah and Andrea for leading the take down of our supplies and packing of our van
- Behnam, Harman and Wei for helping spread gravel to reduce the slipperiness of the trail and increasing safety
- Each and every person who joined us for being so kind, positive and helpful throughout the day!
Community Investment Partner
THANK YOU to the City of White Rock for providing financial support and direction to make this activity possible!
Together we are achieving our common goals and creating connected, healthy and resilient communities engaged in environmental stewardship.
We are excited to be organizing 7 activities with the City of White Rock this year, a new record! With waitlists becoming increasingly common for our White Rock activities, we know our community can’t wait for another big year together.
In-Kind Support
Thank you to the fantastic local eco-friendly business LUSH that donated various in-kind products for our hard-working community members to take home!
Please contact Ashton Kerr if you are interested in providing in-kind or have suggestions for businesses to contact.
Why We Do This Work
The Lower Mainland Green Team organizes hands-on educational activities that have a positive environmental impact to empower people. Through activities such as invasive plant removals, plantings, litter cleanups and more, we are fostering connections with others and nature so that health and well-being is prioritized, lifelong environmental stewardship is promoted, and community members are enabled to take care of themselves, each other and the places they live. We all have the power to make a difference!
We all experience mental and physical health benefits from spending time in nature, including reduced stress and anxiety, and improved mood, focus, memory and more. While doing so, we can also have a positive impact on the environment as demonstrated through this activity!
Staff Who Made This Activity Possible
Lower Mainland Green Team Program Manager, Ashton Kerr, and Program Coordinator, Andrea Robles, work hard behind the scenes to bring these high-quality activities to you.
Partnership building, fundraising, outreach, social media, activity logistics, leading on-the-ground, reporting on impacts and more – they can do it all!