Grand Opening of the “The Take Action Society's” Outdoor Classroom & Community Garden was held on August 2, 2012.
The “Take Action Society” is a non-profit organization established to bring the community together in an outdoor classroom and community garden setting. They wanted to build a space for children to feel free to learn and express themselves in talent shows and movie nights and where the community could grow flowers and vegetables. Their dream became a reality with the help of Rotary. This facility is now located in North Dartmouth on Alfred Street behind Harbour View Elementary School.
The Rotary Club of Dartmouth provided a $10,000 grant towards the construction of the project. The Club leveraged their financial commitment with many other partners including HRM and the United Way. It was a hands-on project for Club members and we were able to get many other players involved. Rotarians Dave Garnier and Gary Frail were the main driving force behind the Club’s involvement. Architect Rayleen Hill (daughter of Rotarian Doug Hill) coordinated a group of Dalhousie University Architectural students who all donated time and talents to design& construct the facilities while artist Jennifer Frail (daughter of Rotarian Gary Frail) sent more than 30 hours creating the artwork for the project.
A lot of the “sweat equity” was provided by the Dalhousie Architectural students as well as Society and Club members. The compost and soil for the garden beds was donated by the Miller Waste Systems.
In the words of Gord Gamble, President of The Rotary Club of Dartmouth, “I can honestly state that yesterday was the proudest I have felt to be part of the Rotary family. This project couldn’t be a more ideal Rotary project”
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