By Sagal Ali
Options Bytown is planning its third annual gardening program aimed at empowering its residents and creating a sense of community through teaching gardening skills.
The Centretown housing project on Gilmour Street is home to 58 tenants who have difficulties living independently. It’s a subsidized permanent housing complex, which offers various life skills programs and counselling services.
The gardening group was introduced by Cheryllynn Ireland, a horticultural therapy student and volunteer garden group coordinator at Options Bytown. She says the program has become very popular with residents and staff over the last two years.
“We’ve had great support from the workers and people really enjoy it,” says Ireland.
She adds that gardening has therapeutic qualities and she has been pleased with the responses the program has been getting.
“[The gardening project] gives them a feeling that someone cares and [that] they can make a difference. It’s been heartwarming. In the middle of the winter, for example, I met one [participant] on the street and he says, ‘I’m still using the basil.’”
Sarah Overvelde, housing coordinator and housing support worker at Options Bytown, says the residence is a safe haven for many who are unable to live alone due to various illnesses and conditions.
“They’re safe and live independently and have the option of not being on the streets or living in shelters. They have a place to call home,” she says.
The gardening project is one of the many initiatives designed to bring the residents together and encourage them to socialize.
The projects illustrate how much the tenants have grown at Options Bytown, says Overvelde.
“To see them progress even if it’s just little steps, to see them be able to take that step forward is amazing.”
Ireland says the program has succeeded in getting residents to interact with each other.
“It’s a major social activity. It’s not only for the residents that participate, but also for the [other residents] that come out and socialize.”
The gardening program begins on May 18 and participants will meet with Ireland once a week. On average, she says, four to six residents come out on a regular basis in the planning and planting of flowers and herbs in front of the residence.
“Often in an institutional situation, you sometimes feel like you don’t have input. This gives them some control and they can say ‘wow yes, this looks better,’” says Ireland.
Susan Barron, a 53-year-old Options Bytown resident and participant in the gardening project, says it has helped people get together and feel like they’re a part of a community.
“We trim bushes and plant new stuff and get to see everything grow. We get to be out in the fresh air and have a coffee once it’s all over. It’s all been quite positive,” she says.
Another upside of the gardening project, says Barron, is that it improves the general look of the front of the building since they’ve been having problems with people littering and graffiti for quite some time.
“Sometimes we get irritated when the general public scatters their garbage around. (The garden) just makes things look nicer.”
This year, Ireland hopes to expand the gardening to the house next door and says she’s thinking about making it more accessible to people with disabilities.
“The long-term vision is a small [user friendly] garden for people in wheelchairs.”