Joel Bilodeau at the Prince Albert Diamond North Credit Union branch, presents a cheque to David Girardi of the Girardi Foundation. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Community projects

Diamond North Credit Union donates $11,000 towards Harley’s Garden

Jun 28, 2021 | 2:00 PM

Donations continue to pour in for a community garden project in Prince Albert’s west flat.

On Monday, Diamond North Credit Union contributed $11,000 towards Harley’s Community Garden. Business development manager Joel Bilodeau said he was drawn to the community aspect of the project, as well as the future opportunities for youth to be involved.

“What we are also excited about are there are some volunteer opportunities with this so into the future that is something we’d like to align ourselves with,” he said.

David Girardi is the executive director of the Girardi Foundation, a charitable non-profit that oversees Harley’s Community Garden and Harley’s House Transition Home. Girardi told paNOW the money helps put them one step closer to fulfilling their goal.

“Currently today we have $75,000 raised towards the community garden and we are going to continue working towards our fundraising goal,” he said.

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The Girardi Foundation aims to raise $500,000. In the meantime, the engineering studies, which include the environmental impact report, topographical land survey, and water drainage plans, are almost complete and the excavation work is expected to begin soon which will mark the completion of the pre-development phase. Girardi said he was pleased with the progress.

“Considering we started in the middle of the pandemic, and we do have our rustic market coming up which is definitely gonna help push through the development process,” he said.

A rendering of the proposed community garden. (Submitted photo/Girardi Foundation)

The long term goal of the Girardi Foundation is to build a youth home at the site. By hosting workshops at the garden (gardening and cooking), as well as partnering with other agencies, to deliver Indigenous arts and culture programming, it’s their goal to build a relationship with the neighbourhood

The donation Monday from Diamond North Credit Union comes through the financial institution’s community enrichment program. Local community groups can apply for and receive money. Other initiatives receiving money have included an indigenous mural project at Nipawin, as well as Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Prince Albert to assist with mentoring relationships.

(Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell