In 2022, PDCF provided funding that allowed the purchase of folding tables and stacking chairs, craft supplies and games. Seniors have gathered around the tables and played cards, strengthened bonds, laughed and even cried together. Children have piqued their curiosity and learned coding and battled robotics at these tables. Dozens of art forms, hobbies and crafts have been explored by all ages and abilities all around these tables. The tables are high quality, sturdy, comfortable and have allowed the library to more fully become an important community hub proactively encouraging literacy, communication, connectivity and creativity.

This year, PDCF provided a grant for expansion of the Library of Things and Experience collections. The focus of this grant is to acquire a collection of active lifestyle, crafting and educational items that community members may a) need only occasionally, b) need only for a short period of time or c) wish to determine whether the item meets their needs before making a purchase.

In addition to benefiting individual members of the community by saving on costs associated with purchasing and storing rarely used items, it also benefits the local environment. This project fosters the circular economy, moving away from mass consumption and accumulation of objects and towards sharing of resources and preventing waste. By offering this collection for FREE, people who may not have the means to purchase or space to store these items are provided the opportunity to be proactive in their active living, creative and educational journeys.

The library’s base has grown due to our ability to be more relevant to a greater number of people. This growth has allowed the library to realize their vision of being a welcoming, inclusive and creative space where people come to connect, discover and grow. The Lanark Highlands Public Library team of dedicated staff and volunteers are committed to enriching the community and above all else, valuing good stewardship, innovation, excellence and engagement.

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