Project type: Park Naturalization
Year: 2018
Season: Fall
ReForest London held their second of two Multicultural Planting events. Despite the rainy weather, many came out to plant! Volunteers included members of the South London Neighbourhood Resource Centre, YMAP, Old Oak Properties and the community. Additionally, there were a number of language interpreters in attendance to aid communication and to improve the experience of all attendees. Over the course of the planting event, 60 volunteers planted nearly 20 large shade trees along the park pathways, and over 200 native trees and shrubs in naturalization areas throughout the park. Neighbours and local dog walkers expressed their excitement over these new additions to the park. Following the tree planting, volunteers broke out into focus groups and discussed the importance of volunteering in the community, planting trees, and what kinds of trees were of cultural significance in their home countries. Thank you to everyone who participated!
Some volunteers shared their reasoning for wanting to volunteer.
Amira, who is from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, shared,
I’m helping out today because there are a lot of problems having to do with climate change. I’m planting trees because trees are literally our life source. Without trees we wouldn’t be able to be here. And without us, trees won’t be able to survive. This isn’t just for us humans but for all the animals and living organisms.
Another group of volunteers, Jared (Canada), Feras (Eritrea), and Apollo (Congo) said,
We came here to meet new people, give back to the community, and have fun!
A big thank you to our funders for this event, CN through the CN Ecoconnexions program, Tree Canada, the City of London, and the Government of Ontario through the Healthy Kids Community Challenge and the Multicultural Community Capacity Grant.
