Living Green Barrie is an environmental charity that, for more than 30 years, has relied on hopeful volunteers to accomplish its mission of inspiring people to make responsible environmental choices.
“Our success and longevity have come from extremely passionate volunteers on the board of directors and on the ground,” says Andee Pelan, executive director of Living Green Barrie.
Numerous volunteers have come and gone over the past three decades, she says.
“It takes a special kind of plucky optimist to see the environment continuously being undervalued and ignored, but to still keep trying to make things better anyway,” she says.
She told BarrieToday this journey has also been marked by huge cycles of boom and bust for Living Green.
“At our peak capacity, we ran a half-a-million-dollar energy and water retrofit program, and in three different times, we’ve occupied storefronts downtown to deliver our programs and services.”
She noted that, unlike businesses, these programs were largely dependent on time-sensitive grants and volunteers.
“When the grants ran out, or if the primary volunteer ran out of steam, leases and staff were let go and Living Green went back to just being a small group of volunteers meeting once a month with no staff, budget or resources.”
Pelan says Living Green is still a small organization that presents itself as being larger than it is.
“We have a large and growing volunteer network and a significant social media presence, and have been woven into the fabric of this city,” she says.
Living Green Barrie has a new strategic plan and a drive to focus its scant resources on climate change action, education, and tree planting, says Pelan.
“We have many different things going on at different times of the year for volunteers.”
During the spring and fall, she says, there is a lot of tree planting to do, and Living Green is always looking for volunteers to get their hands dirty.
“In the summer, we also help manage a Community Food Garden that grows vegetables for social service agencies.”
Additionally, Pelan is hoping to get volunteer assistance with fruit tree maintenance at the Living Green’s Food Forest project locations.
“That’s basically drowning bugs,” she remarked about a role that helps remove pests from fruit trees.
The charity plans two new initiatives this year: a nature pop-up for one week in August, and its first big fundraising gala in September.
“The gala is going to be crucial for us to try to generate some much-needed funds to keep the lights on,” Pelan says.
She explained the money raised by the gala will go toward putting on the array of free events and educational workshops Living Green regularly hosts.
“Last year, for example, we held 12 community tree-planting events, an electric vehicle show, a mayoral debate on the environment, and a Bike the Night event.”
Living Green also held its Harvest Share event last year — where people shared their excess garden vegetables and fruit tree harvests with the community for free.
“Basically, if there’s been a green initiative in Barrie, we probably started it or were part of it,” Pelan says.
Unlike a lot of sports and recreation or arts and culture organizations, she says, Living Green receives no core organizational funding from any level of government and is completely on its own.
“Without foundational support, we’re spending far too much time trying to fundraise and too little time on our mission to connect people to climate change actions.”
The only source of consistent revenue for Living Green comes from volunteer work with Delta Bingo and Gaming, where two volunteers of the charity help the bingo for two hours twice a month.
“The role isn’t very taxing. In fact, it’s a lot of just standing around, smiling politely,” Pelan says.
She estimated the money received for one shift at Delta translates to 17 trees planted in the ground.
“Living Green bingo volunteers got over 400 trees planted last year without getting any dirt under their fingernails,” she says.
More information about Living Green Barrie can be found at livinggreenbarrie.com.
