While its roots are connected to Lanark Highlands Plan B and ConnectWell Community Health, the  South Lanark Community Garden (SLCG) was established in September of 2021 as its own non-profit. SLCG focuses on growing and supplying fresh produce to members who participate in the success of the garden. The garden is not divided into individual plots but rather is one big garden of about 3 acres. Plan B Lanark and The Table Community Food Centre distribute produce from the garden to the broader community. When it is available, produce is also given to Lanark Highlands Food Pantry and The Hunger Stop in Carleton Place.

This spring, with a Community Grant of $8,959.77 from PDCF, the South Lanark Community Garden will purchase a new BCS 739 walk-behind rototiller. This tiller will replace the old method of using a tractor with an attached rototiller to prepare the growing beds. The new method will better maintain the soil’s health and be easier on the environment and, combined with using fungal dominant compost, will reduce the need for other soil amendments. Volunteers will be able to use the tiller themselves and this will increase their connection and personal investment in the garden and develop their skill sets too.

The SLCG is about growing food, but it is also about growing community. Working together, SLCG volunteers have many opportunities to meet new people, create new friends, and to get things done. Volunteers of various ages work side-by-side and learn from each other.

Growing local food and local community at the same time makes for a scrumptious recipe of connection and sustainability! PDCF is delighted to be part of that creation.

Climate Network Lanark (CNL) got its formal start four years ago, just before the Covid pandemic took hold. Co-founders Gord Harrison and Sue Brandum, along with many volunteers, brought together 120 people at the Perth Civitan Club to launch a local organization that focuses on cutting local greenhouse gasses (GHGs). GHG emissions, which create Climate Change, are affected by many local decisions including how we heat our buildings, how we get between home, work, schools, shopping and recreation and what we do with household waste.

Throughout the pandemic, CNL educated local citizens by conducting a survey and writing articles for local media about local climate actions and concerns, and developing projects such as: support for various composting options, collection of recyclables and organic waste at events like the Stewart Park Festival, protection of wetlands, promotion of heat pumps instead of natural gas and oil for heating, and organization of events and actions to persuade provincial and local politicians to take climate action.

In 2023, through the Community Services Recovery Fund, PDCF supported CNL’s Climate Concierge Pilot Program. This program, which began in August 2023 and will run until March 2024, connects single-family homeowners to each other in clusters throughout Lanark County. It provides motivation, leading-edge knowledge, peer support, and local trade and supplier expertise so homeowners can make the best decisions, with confidence, about how to reduce their home’s greenhouse gas emissions. To date, it has helped more than 40 individual householders by educating them on climate change, retrofitting options for their specific circumstances, and navigating funding.

A member from the Perth cluster got a heat pump installed in her home in October of last year, two months after the group’s first meeting. She said, “We wouldn’t have done it without help from Climate Concierge Community Cluster. It gave us the confidence to do it.” After getting the heat pump installed, she decided to move on to properly air-seal her home.

This Spring, thanks to a 2024 Community Grant from PDCF, CNL will deliver two sets of education and networking opportunities to residents and municipal, community, and business leaders under the banner of Electrify Lanark County. These will consist of six workshops and one forum, both delivered in a hybrid format so people can attend in person and virtually. The workshops will focus on the details, for example: about the many ways to heat water electrically; about how to buy electric appliances such as induction stoves and heat pump clothes dryers; about electric transportation including EVs, lawn mowers and boat engines. The day-long forum will be a high-level exploration of how Lanark County can contribute to providing the electricity we will need and making its local power supply resilient. To keep informed, visit www.climatenetworklanark.ca

PEP – Seniors Therapeutic Centre (PEP), formerly known as Perth Enrichment Program for Older Adults, was established in 2014 by Dr Bob VanNoppen and Suzanne Rintoul, who is now Executive Director. PEP was developed in response to the growing needs of the Perth-Smiths Falls communities and to fulfill mandates set out by the Seniors Strategy of Ontario’s Action Plan for Health Care. PEP will celebrate their 10th anniversary in March 2024.

Since 2018, PDCF has provided over $19k in grants to the program. This includes funding for a physiotherapist to assess clients, providing subsidies to clients in need, and funding the purchase of a sanitizing dishwasher and blinds to adjust facility lighting for on-screen presentations. Recently, PDCF supported PEP to implement a Caregiver ID program that is now being adopted throughout Lanark Leeds and Grenville.

The Caregiver ID concept began in the United Kingdom. It is a tool that can be used to foster policies and principles of family inclusion for patient and family-centered care. PEP believes that clients and patients need the support of their caregivers, as it is often those individuals who can best assist with a loved one’s social and/or health needs. Currently, there are over 4 million unpaid caregivers in Ontario. As part of its programming, PEP hosts a free Caregiver Chat once a month where caregivers can discuss any concerns they are facing and receive support from peers and staff.

PEP’s day program provides a therapy-centered approach to care. A continental breakfast and hot lunch are served to all participants. The program includes assessments by a staff physiotherapist, nurse and recreation therapist. Each day the clients participate in one hour of stretching and strengthening exercises as well as other activities that engage their bodies and their minds.

After clients have been with PEP for about six weeks, staff sit down with them privately and listen to their concerns in order to assist them with their needs. If necessary, PEP refers them to additional resources to help meet their goals, which are most often related to staying in their own homes. The most important part of this program is providing a safe, welcoming environment where clients report they “feel comfortable being themselves and don’t ever feel judged.”

PEP helps revitalize retirement for seniors who might be lonely. There is a great deal of research that indicates that loneliness can lead to many other health concerns.

If you are interested in any of the programs offered by PEP, you can find out more by visiting their website or by dropping by. PEP operates Monday to Friday from 9:30 am until 3:00 pm at 12 Elliot St in Perth.

This article is part of a series that highlights organizations, groups and individuals doing the good work of community building here in Lanark County. View all articles by clicking on the Community Builders tag.