The positive momentum for a botanical garden on the Sunshine Coast hit fever pitch this week.
On Sunday evening, before a small but enthusiastic crowd, the Sunshine Coast Botanical Garden Society (SCBGS) unveiled conceptual plans for two proposed sites for the garden in West Sechelt. Society members also announced that community donors have already committed $300,000 towards purchasing one of the two sites and that the society is more than confident they will be able to raise the $1.5 million needed for the project.
This is a major achievement for the SCBGS whose members have worked diligently over the years to make the dream of a botanical garden on the Coast a reality.
Seeing the success the society has achieved and the fact they are inching closer to their dreams has us thinking about former society member Paulean MacHale.
MacHale passed away last April, but her legacy lives on. We fondly remember MacHale's passion and fire for this project. When the idea was first broached about the project on land in Gibsons, MacHale was front and centre as the spokesperson for the society. She attended meeting after meeting, pushing for the project. She wanted the garden to serve the whole community and a broad spectrum of residents and to be a tourist attraction that would benefit the Coast and enhance the education of botanical gardens and gardening in general.
Paulean is no doubt looking down on us with a big smile on her face knowing her work was not for nought and that the society is pushing forward. Now it's up to us in the community to continue this work and positive momentum. This community has shown in the past that when it comes to raising dollars, no one can beat us. If we can do it for Back the CAT and the Pender Health Centre, surely we can help the garden society meet their fundraising goals too.
Let's get behind this project and make it happen.
One more voteOne more vote - that's all it will take before Habitat for Humanity gets the green light to start on its Sunshine Coast Village project in Wilson Creek.
District of Sechelt council should be commended for the diligence and speed with which they've pushed the development application through. And the community should also be commended for getting behind this project and pushing council to make a positive decision.
Habitat is doing amazing things in this community - and it looks like the best is yet to come.
