Give

The Grapevine > Give

Lee’s Shop: The Little Business with a Big Heart Selling Products with a Story

Author: November 30, 2018

Lee’s Shop: The Little Business with a Big Heart Selling Products with a Story By Lee & Francis The proud owner of Lee’s Shop in Canning is Lee Van Amerongen. Lee is a young man who loves his church, likes fast food, music, and books. Lee is proud to be called “Uncle Lee” by his niece and nephew, and treasures the time he spends with family and friends. Lee is also a young man with autism and significant seizure disorder. He is non-verbal, communicates with an ipad and alphabet board, and needs support for most aspects of his life. Lee…
Read more

Articles, Buy, Give

What’s Growing at the Harriet Botanical Gardens: Giving to the Earth

Author: November 30, 2018

What’s Growing at the Harriet Botanical Gardens: Giving to the Earth By Melanie Priesnitz, Conservation Horticulturist We are showered every day with the gifts of the Earth, gifts we have neither earned nor paid for: air to breathe, nurturing rain, black soil, berries and honeybees, the tree that became this page, a bag of rice, and the exuberance of a field of goldenrod and asters at full bloom. Though the Earth provides us with all that we need, biologist Robin Wall Kimmerer says we have created a consumption-driven economy that asks ‘What more can we take from the Earth?’ and…
Read more

Articles, Give

Boxes of Cheer to Help People Locally this Holiday

Author: November 15, 2018

Boxes of Cheer to Help People Locally this Holiday By Laura Churchill Duke For the third year, this holiday season you can fill a box of cheer for people in need right here in Kings County. Valley Family Fun and the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) have paired up to create a program called Fill a Box of Cheer: The Local Option. “There are many adults in need locally who often don’t qualify for support through traditional programs, such as any targeted towards family and children,” says Candy O’Brien of CMHA. This is a way to reach more people. To…
Read more

Articles, Events, Give

Museum Ghosts Told to Behave at Randall’s Hallowe’en House

Author: October 19, 2018

Museum Ghosts Told to Behave at Randall’s Hallowe’en House By Wendy Elliott Three ghosts appear to inhabit Randall House in Wolfville: There’s the young boy, the woman in white on the staircase, and the grumpy man upstairs. Bruce Simpson and other paranormal investigators clearly heard a little boy utter words when they visited last year, but it wasn’t any ordinary little boy. It was a spirit. Simpson and his wife, Charlene, own Caretakers Paranormal Investigations in Truro. They use their free time to travel to heritage homes and listen for spirits.They do not charge for their services. There’s one rule…
Read more

Articles, Events, Give

Giving Thanks: Valley Yoga Teachers on Yoga, Gratitude, and Thanksgiving Traditions

Author: October 4, 2018

Giving Thanks: Valley Yoga Teachers on Yoga, Gratitude, and Thanksgiving Traditions Thanksgiving is one of our favourite holidays at The Grapevine, and this year we’ve been thinking a lot about gratitude in general. We asked yoga teachers from all over the Valley about yoga and gratitude. We also asked each of them to share a little something about their own Thanksgiving traditions along with their answers. The Grapevine: How does gratitude inform your yoga practice and teaching? “I am grateful every day that I am able to get to my yoga mat to practice even if it is for just…
Read more

Articles, Give

Featurepreneur: A Look Through the Kaleidoscope

Author: July 27, 2018

Featurepreneur: A Look Through the Kaleidoscope By Genevieve Allen Hearn Kaleidoscope in New Minas is a program started by Donna Randell in 2015. Donna is a slight departure from the usual entrepreneurs that we feature in this column because her venture is a nonprofit. Kaleidoscope offers social and recreation opportunities for adults with special needs at the Louis Millett Community Complex in New Minas. The Grapevine (GV): Tell us about how Kaleidoscope got its start. Donna Randell (DR): Kaleidoscope started when I couldn’t find daytime activities for people with special needs. Kathleen Purdy, executive director of the Alexander Society for…
Read more

Articles, Give

A Community That Bakes Together

Author: July 13, 2018

A Community That Bakes Together By Genevieve Allen Hearn Adam Barnett and Duncan Ebata share the same enthusiasm for building vibrant and resilient communities. This common interest, matched with their take-action approach to ideas, has resulted in a collaborative effort to build a community oven in Wolfville’s Robie Tufts Nature Park. Before we delve into this any further, it may be prudent to quell any presuppositions that the community oven will be built in or around the chimney that is home to the threatened chimney swifts. The accompanying image illustrates the proposed location of the oven. Fear not – those…
Read more

Articles, Events, Give

Space to Roost: Helping Shorebirds Continue their Migration

Author: July 13, 2018

Space to Roost: Helping Shorebirds Continue their Migration By Jaya Fahey and Sue Abbott, Bird Studies Canada While enjoying the Bay of Fundy coast, you’ve probably noticed thousands of sandpipers in late summer. Coastal beaches in the Minas Basin are vital places for semipalmated sandpipers and other shorebirds during their 4,000km migration to South America. Semipalmated sandpipers are in trouble – their population in the Bay of Fundy has declined by 50% since the 1970s, and they need our help. The Minas Basin of the Bay of Fundy is a critical stopover site for hundreds of thousands of semipalmated sandpipers…
Read more

Articles, Events, Give

The Crowdsourcer

Author: July 4, 2018

The Crowdsourcer Watch our community change the world one dollar at a time. Title: The Firefly Eco Cabin Project Website: kickstarter.com/projects/1236776413/the-firefly-eco-cabin-project-0?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=firefly%20eco%20cabin Description: The idea behind The Firefly Eco Cabin Project is to create an eco-friendly living space for people of all ages to experience and learn about sustainable construction. The Firefly Eco Cabin will be built at the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts. It will function as an exhibit for visitors to interact with and explore, including information about how the building works. The Eco Cabin will also be a space to accommodate visitors, such as professional art instructors…
Read more

Articles, Events, Give

Booker School Bikes: Give your old bike a new life!

Author: May 3, 2018

Booker School Bikes: Give your old bike a new life! Over the past month, Middle Years students at The Booker School have been working on a “personal project” as part of their schoolwork. The project needed to be related to something they were passionate about and that they could take action on. It also had to be connected to the United Nations ​17 Global Goals For Sustainable Development. Colin Stephens, a Grade 6 student at The Booker School, thinks biking is fun, healthy, and good for the environment. For his personal project, he is donating bikes to people who need…
Read more

Articles, Give