STEWARDSHIP PEMBERTON SOCIETY

Pemberton Creek Community Garden: This community garden includes a teaching plot and a plot allocated to the Pemberton Food Bank and Women's Safe House. This garden allows over 72 families to grow food for their families. This garden is in such high demand that there is a consistent waitlist of around 50 families wanting a community garden plot. Stewardship Pemberton Society is currently working with the Village of Pemberton to build more community garden lands. The name of this expansion project is the Pemberton Agriculture Park. Feasting for Change Program: This program has three projects under its umbrella all with the common goal of reducing human-bear conflict and food insecurity in the community through establishing sustainable food systems. Grow-it-Forward Garden: This is a large plot in the Pemberton Creek Community Garden where vegetables are grown and then donated to local social services such as the Pemberton Food Bank. Pemberton Fruit Tree Project: This project picks fruit from the community and people's property that the tree owners do not have time/ resources to pick themselves. This fruit is then donated to local social services and volunteers. By picking fruit we are reducing human-bear conflict by removing the bear attractant. Pemberton Seed Library: This is a library where individuals can get seeds for free but also return seeds they have saved from their own gardens. It helps to reduce food insecurity by promoting food sovereignty. Lillooet River Watershed Model: In 2021 Stewardship Pemberton Society started to work on Phase 2 of the Lillooet River Watershed Model. Phase 2 involves collaborating with Lil'wat Nation and bringing the knowledge and stories of this nation to light by animating them on the watershed model. This is done through models. Management of One Mile Lake Nature Centre building: including hosting a few events and operating a Volunteer StreamKeepers Program. Where volunteers monitor the return of coho salmon and perform water quality sampling of the Pemberton Creek. continuing work on the implementation of the Pemberton Agricultural Park: lot 13 ( developing into a future community garden)

In 2024 we added two new projects to our Feasting for Change Program: -Farm Food Rescue Project: where we rescue unsold produce from local organic farms that would otherwise go to waste and bring it to the Pemberton Food Bank -- bridging a gap in our local food system. Pemberton Secondary School Garden Project - At the Pemberton Secondary School Garden students are involved in all steps of the growing process - from planting seeds to harvesting to learning about local food systems! All produce goes directly to school food programs and school families. In 2024 we received funding from the Whistler Blackcomb Enviro Fund to expand and revitalize this school garden. We were also successful in securing funding with the Youth Employment and Skills Program Grant to hire a Garden Coordinator for this garden. In this garden we also employed two student garden assistants.