Beautiful weather and a great turnout at Party by the Pond #5
In three weeks, HumberFest, celebrating over 200 years history in Mount Dennis, and looking with a critical eye at significant events that took place in the Humber Valley just north of Eglinton.
We’ll have a lot to discus, but at a fun event with food for all. Watch as the virtual trail comes on line, and look at the poster as we finalize details
Food share is a 32-year old not for profit organization that is vocal and active on issues of food security, access to healthy food and urban agriculture. They held their annual general meeting (AGM) at their warehouse on 120 Industry St. They welcomed members of the community at 3:30pm with plant giveaways. Several types of tomatoe plants and some herbs and kale were available for free to those who wish to grow them in a personal or community garden.
They then organized personalized tours of the building to members of the community who are unfamiliar with their work. They have a kitchen that caters healthy meals to schools, senior homes and community events; as the visitors strolled past, the kitchen was very busy preparing food for the dinner after the AGM. The facility also includes walk-in fridges and and a warehouse where Good Food Baskets are packed full of fresh produce by staff, then delivered to pick-up spots across Toronto and the GTA; the pick-up spots are managed by local volunteers. To find out more or to order your own food basket for as little as $13 visit their website at foodshare.net.
At 5:00pm the meeting was called to order, some motions were passed and recognition was made to all those who contribute. Speakers listed some of the achievements of the past year.
Speakers also invited everyone to donate to, buy from, and share the story of the Sunshine Garden; a therapeutic garden in which clients of CAMH who are struggling with addiction and mental health issues work and volunteer. The Sunshine Garden is a long-time FoodShare program run in partnership with CAMH.
After 6:00pm dinner was served to all those who attended.
Starting with a tour of the brand new York Recreation Centre, this walk will examine the terraforming of Kodak Heights for the Crosstown Maintenance & Storage Facility, before examining the work for the Mount Dennis station. At MD Public Library, see TPL’s innovative new technologies with a hands on demonstration. The walk ends at St Mary & St Martha’s where there will be refreshments and an opportunity to discuss the progress and problems of the Crosstown and other changes to the area. The walk will feature expert speakers for each aspect, as well as community members to give lived experiences.
Major turn-out at today’s Clean-Up; the MDCA would like to thank everyone who participated; the children who worked as hard as anyone else, the whole families who turned up, including the multi-generational families. We lost count at one point but there was 45 participants; we also lost count of the amount of garbage that was picked up from the ravines, by the first half-hour, and before everyone had showed up yet, we had already tied up 12 garbage bags of mostly recyclables.
The ravines we were at are particularly beautiful overlooking Topham Pond. Of course the litter and garbage spoils the scenery but it was a beauty day, with lots of birds flying in the blue sky; we spotted lots of red-winged blackbirds and robins, but also a male and a female cardinal, a downy woodpecker, a feral cat, a squirrel and a hawk. The Earth was happy, and by the end of the event after picking up all the visible garbage, the floor of the steep woods became as beautiful as the clear sky above it. Thanks again to everyone who helped out.
A big thank you to the 10 individuals who helped out today, braving the rain to participate in this litter pick-up effort, including a family of 4. Sadly we didn’t remember to take a group photo.
We cleaned along Dora Spencer Rd. and then a smaller group broke out to clean Portage Gardens Park. Though we filled about 30 bags worth of litter (a majority of which are recyclables) much more work remaind to be done on the ravine edge of Portage Gardens Park.
We invite community members to reach out to MDCA if they need help organizing further clean-up dates on the Portage Gardens Park ravine edge. And once again we like to thank all those helping to beauify Mount Dennis.
We want to thank everyone who came out to our second Clean-up event this past Saturday. It was a large and enthusiastic group; we had a hard time getting everyone in the group photo 🙂
Everyone put in a great effort. We filled 33 garbage bags! One-third with recyclables and the rest with litter or smaller dumped items. We also created a pile of miscellaneous large objects that had been dumped in or beside the ravine. It was a chance to crack some jokes with neighbours we knew, as well as meet new neighbours. If this sounds like a nice Saturday morning to you, why don’t you join us for one of our next events:
April 15th Dora Spencer & Portage Gdns. Park – meet 10 am, Weston at Dora Spencer
April 22nd Lambton & Astoria ravine edges – meet 10 am, Lambton at Astoria
April 29th Emmett Ave. – meet 10 am, Emmett at Verona
Our clean-ups happen in public areas, especially along the ravine edges and last for just two hours. Garbage bags, gloves and other equipment will be provided. Why not get some exercise in the fresh air, meet neighbours you might not know, and help beautify some of the areas which make Mount Dennis special. All ages are welcome. Students can earn community hours.
MDCA again has a co-sponsor. One hour plus of clean-up work earns you a “half-off any drink” supercoffee coupon. If you also tweet or Instagram a clean-up photo tagging @supercoffeeMD & @MountDennisCA, then your drink is completely FREE.
PS: Want help organizing your own Mount Dennis clean-up at another time? Email us info@mountdennis.ca or phone 416-614-3371
The yearly MDCA spring clean-up is a series of community volunteer events that takes place throughout the month of April. We invite members of the community to join us on walks and pick up as much trash as we can to help keep Mount Dennis beautiful. Below are the details for the five consecutive Saturdays in April 2017:
MDCA/supercoffee SATURDAY SPRING CLEAN-UPS #MDSpringClean
1st Jane & Pinehill ravine edges – meet 10 am Bartonville at Jane
8th Somerville & Sunnybrae ravine edges meet 10 am, west end of Glenvalley Dr.
15th Dora Spencer & Portage Gdns. Park – meet 10 am, Weston at Dora Spencer
22nd Lambton & Astoria ravine edges meet 10 am, Lambton at Astoria
29th Emmett Ave. – meet 10 am, Emmett at Verona
Our clean-ups happen in public areas, especially along the ravine edges. Garbage bags, gloves and other equipment will be provided. Why not get some exercise in the fresh air, meet neighbours you might not know, and help beautify some of the areas which make Mount Dennis special. All ages are welcome. Students can earn community hours.
MDCA again has a co-sponsor. One hour plus of clean-up work earns you a “half-off any drink” supercoffee coupon. If you also tweet or Instagram a clean-up photo tagging @supercoffeeMD & @MountDennisCA, then your drink is completely FREE.
PS: Want help organizing your own Mount Dennis clean-up at another time? Email us or phone 416-614-3371
This is a french interview on CBC Radio Canada, hosted by Line Boily and her program Heure De Pointe with Mount Dennis Community Association member Johnny Dib discussing the Eco-Neighbourhood vision of Mount Dennis. These are the highlights from the interview:
The host said it’s easier to stop a polluting power plant than to change lifestyle choices. Johnny agreed but reminded the listeners that the emissions-free battery was not an obvious outcome and took months of active pressure. The MDCA is optimistic about the future and is confident that with support from local residents and businesses we can achieve our Eco-Neighbourhood vision.
Zéro #emissions dans le quartier Mount Dennis à #Toronto ? C’est l’objectif de l’association @MountDennisCA. Ent avec Johnny Dib à 17h45!
— L’heure de pointe (@HDPTORONTO) April 5, 2017
Metro Newspaper and other media outlets covered the Mount Dennis Community Association’s Eco-Neighbourhood vision.
