Welcome to GIY Canada! 

Our goal is to increase, improve and facilitate access to nutritional food and to mobilize people to be producers of their own food – to feed not only their own families but neighbors, friends and anyone in need; helping those who can’t afford healthy produce at the supermarket but also developing awareness among the more financially secure families of the social and moral responsibility of our consumer choices.  We want to support families in their pursuit of health and we want to foster community partnerships in the development of a sustainable and independent network of citizens working together toward an elemental and vital goal – sowing the seeds, nurturing the growth and harvesting affordable, accessible sources of health.  

GIYC will achieve this goal by supplying interested citizens and families with a Grow-it-Yourself (GIY) gardening kit, consisting of a pre-fabricated raised garden box, soil and seeds. We will do this one family at a time, one household at a time and gradually foster and support a contagion of garden growth, starting in low-income neighborhoods to produce nutrition for those most in need and a positive murmur in the city, and quickly moving this initiative to wealthier neighborhoods to create a collective that is motivated to support the greater good – growing for those who most need it. Commuters on the way to the office, dropping off fresh produce at designated pick-up points in neighborhoods they’ve never visited, fellow Calgarians sharing awareness of the project with co-workers and colleagues and directing them to the GIYC website to find out  how they, too, can grow it themselves….neighbors helping neighbors and sharing in a cyclical initiative that helps everyone. One season at a time – planting, nurturing, harvesting, feeding and sharing. Building community, supporting families, fostering compassion. Health and security.

Community Development / Creating Relationships – The Process

Our goal is not only to increase the supply of fresh foods, but to create relationships and community partnerships. We believe in the value and outcome of neighbours helping neighbours. Creating bridges and connections. We believe in the fundamental goodness of people and believe the GIY concept will reach the hearts and souls of the most compassionate in our community and will trigger a positive response from the most logical and financially secure families due to its sustainable development and keeping-it-local foundation.

While we need initial ‘seed’ funding, we hope to build in sustainable practices by not only providing the GIY kits to working families, we hope that those that can well afford one will not only buy one for themselves, but purchase a second or multiple kits to donate to families or groups that can’t afford the expense.

We will encourage GIY families and participants to plant front-yard community boxes that they may also share with neighbours, from seeding to harvest – sharing the labor and the fruits of their shared efforts. That’s true community building! We will work with families in the planning and planting of their gardens. Utilizing permaculture to minimize watering and weeding, we will also provide advice on garden maintenance and harvesting.

If you would like to be part of this growing movement -- if you want to be a supporter, a fundraiser, a grower, a volunteer .. if you just want to be a good neighbour ... please contact Jenlen at [email protected]. Happy growing!  Spring has sprung.