May 15, 2009
Members of the Georgian Lakelands Chapter helped the Barrie area food bank, while creating a positive image of LO.

On Sat., Apr. 11th, members of the chapter took part in the Elizabeth Fry Society’s annual Easter food drive. There were four drop-off locations in the Barrie area. On Sat., Warren Paterson of Botanix Garden Centre provided his parking lot for the public to drop-off food and cash. To catch the eye of passers-by, members from the chapter brought in pieces of landscape equipment. “Even though we had a limited time to organize this great community event, thanks to the enthusiasm of our board members we were able to organize the phone calls, e-mails, drop locations, newspaper announcements, television coverage and participation of local City council members,” said chapter president Michael Laporte.

“The event was a total success, not only did we help with the local food drive, but we were able to get some great publicity for Landscape Ontario. Our association was featured in the Barrie Examiner newspaper with quotes from our president Michael Laporte and me, stating the importance of community involvement and why we chose this event. The coverage by the TV news team gave Landscape Ontario some primetime viewing that we couldn’t have paid for. We were featured on the 6 p.m. news on Good Friday and Saturday and again at 11 p.m. on Saturday, with Michael Laporte being interviewed in front of the new Green for Life banner,” said Lexi Dearborn, one of the organizers of the Barrie chapter event.

Many thanks go to Michael Laporte, Lexi Dearborn, Warren Paterson, Sheila and Ross Allin, Ken Adair, Terry Kowalski, Jeff Lee, Bob Adams and Dave Emms for their outstanding efforts. This project was truly a pay-it-forward moment for the chapter.


Caption: From left; LO president Bob Adams, Sheila Allin, MP Patrick Brown, Food Drive Supporter Natasha Weber, Dave Emms, Elizabeth Fry GAP co-coordinator Amanda Arena.