If you’ve attended one of Evergreen’s many activities and events then Mike Derblich might look familiar. Mike is one of our volunteer photographers who helps us beautifully capture our human and wildlife visitors. He joined our team over a year ago and we recently had a chance to sit down and talk to him.
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Evergreen Brick Works, Toronto, Volunteer | 
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Posted by Christine from Volunteering
By: Sarah Weaver
Sabina Ali is a busy lady. A mother of 4, she’s involved in several initiatives and committees across Toronto including the Thorncliffe Park Women’s Committee, Access Capital Fund, Thorncliffe Park Kindergarten School Design Team, Women at Work and Evergreen.
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Posted by Nate from Public Relations
Beverley & Bill at the Welcome Desk (Photo: Sarah Weaver)
Bill Wilson and Beverley Auburn are two of the friendliest faces that you are likely to see when you visit Evergreen Brick Works. That’s because Bill and Beverley make up part of our Volunteer Welcome Host team. Despite only starting in June 2010, both have left lasting impressions on the Evergreen Staff and the many people who visit the site on a daily basis! Recently we asked them about their volunteer experience at Evergreen to learn more about what motivates them.
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Posted by Christine from Volunteering
Cheerful Vic after a day of pulling periwinkle from Mahon Park (Photo: Evergreen)
Vic is without a doubt one of our longest running volunteers. He initially took part in tree planting events in Toronto many years ago when Evergreen had just established itself as a non-profit. After retiring from the financial services industry, Vic moved to Vancouver where Evergreen convinced him to get involved in our Mahon Park Stewardship Project in North Vancouver, which had just begun working in the community in 2003. He has been coming out month after month, rain or shine, ever since.
What do you like about volunteering in Mahon Park? The project managers have consistently provided strong, knowledgeable leadership. And the stewardship work takes place in a relaxed, fun setting. It’s also great to have a sense of participating in something with meaningful impact at the local level.
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Posted by Allison from Evergreen British Columbia
By: Tooba Shakeel, Stewardship Coordinator, Evergreen
UTSC Garden Celebration, (Photos: Tooba Shakeel)
University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) Garden saw a successful season of growth! On Sept 29, students and staff at UTSC celebrated the harvest by enjoying a delicious salad made from vegetables grown in the University Community Garden. Participants also enjoyed Gourd Bowling using butternut squash!
UTCS Community Garden, (Photos: Tooba Shakeel)
UTSC Garden was established in the spring of 2010 in partnership with the UTSC Sustainability Office and Evergreen. The aim was to provide students and community members a chance to practice gardening and grow vegetables. During the celebration, participants harvested pepper, zucchini, eggplant, onion, parsley, oregano, lemon grass, basil, rosemary, nasturtium and much more. Not only did everyone enjoy a delicious salad but participants also took plenty of vegetables home. The garden has been put to sleep for winter and we hope to have an even better growing season next year!
Click here for information on UTSC Sustainability Office projects and events.
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Posted by Kim from Common Grounds
Camp Games (Photo: Mike Derblich)
Evergreen is currently recruiting for Assistant Day Camp Counsellors for our March Break Camp and soon, for summer camps in July and August.
This past August, Sathvik, known at camp as Hawk, volunteered at the Green City Adventure Camp for two weeks, engaging with campers to discover and explore nature at Evergreen Brick Works and the ravines. A high school student at Victoria Park Collegiate Institute looking to help at a camp, Sathvik was captivated from the start and can’t wait until next summer when he can get involved again.
What did you like about volunteering with day camp? I got to learn so much and helped the campers learn too. I’d never had this kind of opportunity to connect with nature, outside of a little gardening at home. It felt more like fun than work and it was amazing to be in this incredibly scenic site right in the middle of Toronto! The only downside was the mosquitoes. It was also great to see how some shy campers or those hesitant to get dirty were right in there with everyone by the end, including me. There was a lot of team-building going on and I also got to see animals and plants in nature.
1 Comment | Evergreen Brick Works, Toronto, Volunteer | Permalink
Posted by Christine from Volunteering
Just another day at the office (Photo: Laura Smit)
Evergreen BC’s corporate volunteers work hard, in and out of the office. The following groups dedicated time, money and effort toward restoring nature in Vancouver this year, giving our urban forest (and our stewardship groups) a huge boost!
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Posted by Laura from Common Grounds Vancouver
Richmond Hill Students in the Field (Photo: Evergreen)
Jennifer Bronfenbrener, Julia Kostin, Aryan Heidari and Aline Nguyen are students at Alexander Mackenzie Secondary School who have been coming out regularly this season to Phyllis Rawlinson Park in Richmond Hill to plant trees, support the community tree nursery and help with the annual Harvest Festival. They are dedicated, enthusiastic young people who inspire others to make a difference in their world. We talked to them recently about their volunteer experience:
What do you like about volunteering: We can directly help the environment, benefit the community and the town we live in while having a great time doing it!
Memories: We’ve especially enjoyed helping at the Harvest Festival and getting more students from our school to get involved. The fresh bean salad we made was a big hit too. We were also amazed at the transformation at the tree nursery on one stewardship day this year.
Why volunteer: We love to plant trees, reduce our ecological footprint and help save the environment. It’s great to take action.
When you’re not volunteering: We’re in our last years of high school, and find time to hang out with friends and play sports.
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Posted by Christine from Volunteering
Jen Alderson and Sean Aldcroft (Photo: Sean Aldcroft)
Jen Alderson and Sean Aldcroft have been steady stewardship volunteers for Evergreen’s Iona Beach Regional Park Working Group, working hard to restore sensitive dune habitats every third Saturday of the month. They’ve also been active in our super elite task force project, protecting what is left of the streambank lupine colonies remaining in the Lower Mainland.
Why do they volunteer to green their city? Jen and Sean get tremendous satisfaction out of getting involved and being connected to the local habitat. There’s a real sense of ownership to clean out invasive species taking over our regional parks! Plus a weed wrench is a great way to get out latent aggression.
Their highlight of volunteering with Evergreen? Both said their ongoing highlight of volunteering with Evergreen has been efficiently doing away with what seems like acres of invasive Scotch broom at Iona Beach Regional Park. There’s a strange satisfaction in uprooting Scotch Broom that is taller than you are!
What about their other lives? Sean is the elementary school teacher parents either hope or fear their child will receive and Jen works to improve the environmental footprint of YVR.
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Posted by Allison from Evergreen British Columbia
Liz Stewart and Isabel Wiesenfeld (Photo: Ingrid Mayrhofer)
Isabel Wiesenfeld and Liz Stewart have spent the last four months helping bring Evergreen Brick Works to life in new ways through geology and art. Isabel has been busy researching and writing text for the geology exhibits while investigating new interactive approaches to engage and educate our visitors. In the meantime, Liz curated a photo exhibit about Evergreen Brick Works – past, present and future – portraying the site’s layered history, now on display in the Centre for Green Cities!
Why did they get involved? Both said the energy and innovation at Evergreen right now was a big appeal. For Liz, she was between jobs and recognized the valuable experience of learning new skills in a new industry with new people. For Isabel, she’s applying her university education to a real-life situation.
What’s their experience been like? They’ve really enjoyed the friendly atmosphere in the office and the opportunity to meet new people. For Isabel, bridging the gap between research and the exhibit has been really valuable as she hopes to work in a museum. For Liz, telling a story through pictures has been a great project to develop.
A few memories: “The adventure of finding out which desk I’m using each time I’m in – one time I had to move three times!” ”It was also surprising to see the face of an Evergreen staff person on a George Brown College TTC ad.” ”Evergreen seems to be everywhere!”
What about their other lives? Liz recently started a new job at Harbourfront while Isabel works at making casts of bones and hopes to go to grad school. Cooking, reading and browsing bookstores also fill their time. We wish them the best of luck and look forward to staying involved and seeing what happens.
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Posted by Christine from Volunteering
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