Wednesday

Who organizes the East Vancouver Garden Tour? What happens to the proceeds?

The Garden Tour is put on by Britannia Neighbours. The Garden Tour is our only fund-raiser for the year and all proceeds go to support our activities, mostly maintenance of the Napier Greenway, which includes paying for someone from the Kettle Friendship Society to pick up litter almost every day all year ... and for someone to hand-water the Greenway and the big cement planters in the Britannia courtyard, as needed, all summer. And some of the money also goes to the purchase of plants and trees and hoses and tools and leaf bags and sea soil, etc.

Britannia Neighbours is a community-based volunteer group dedicated to the greening and beautification of our East Vancouver neighbourhood. Besides putting on the Garden Tour every year, we are also the group that started the Grandview Garden Club.

We work with the City of Vancouver Green Streets Program, which encourages community volunteers to beautify and maintain the City's greenways, boulevards, traffic circles, and corner bulges.

As well, Britannia Community Centre sponsors Britannia Neighbours and our various activities by providing storage, meeting space, and a snail-mail address (plus a mailbox at Brit). We also collaborate with other community organizations, including Britannia Elementary School, the Britannia Branch of the Vancouver Public Library, Figaro's Garden Centre, and the Kettle Friendship Society.

Join us! We always welcome new workers, members, and neighbours! Send us a message to volunteer with us in the Greenway — it's fun! — or to get on our e-mail list.

We have a Britannia Neighbours blog and our e-mail address is britneighbours@gmail.com. (That e-mail serves both Britannia Neighbours and the East Vancouver Garden Tour.)