By Lori McKay - The Weekly News
The new garden beside Margaret House on Ochterloney Street is more than just pretty flowers.
The Feeding Others Of Dartmouth (FOOD) Society bought the vacant lot adjacent to the house last year and have turned it into a garden/courtyard. When completed, the space will house a gazebo, wrought-iron fence, flowers, bushes and edible plants.
"We came up with the idea so our folks didn't have to line up on the street. It's the one thing that we've always felt really bad about," said Margaret House coordinator Karen Goudie. "So when we had the opportunity to get that property (next door), we thought if we turned it into a little garden and park area, the folks could just wait in there and it would just be nicer."
The gazebo will be completed at some point this summer, and in the next few weeks, the stairs, which are currently on the Ochterloney Street side, will be moved to lead from the garden.
"It's a very busy street. The traffic on that street is unbelievable. I've been there many years and I can't even tell you the amount of times I've been talking to someone out in the line up and you notice people staring, or some people will actually yell out rude things, like 'get a job,'. It's really a shame, and it's happened a lot. So I'm really happy to get the folks off the street."
The garden was designed with Margaret House's heritage status in mind, and the items planted were chosen with practicality. They planted things like blueberry bushes, strawberries, rhubarb, goose berries, currants and an apple tree mixed in amongst the other plants and trees.
"Hopefully we can use a lot of what we get out of that garden as well," said Goudie. "It was an interesting concept."
Board member Doug Livingstone said it will be a friendly space for the folks to gather under and get some shelter from the elements.
"There was no shelter, it's not like it was a covered veranda or anything. Years ago they used to gather on the opposite side, and there was a little bit of shelter there, but even that wasn't big enough. When we renovated the inside of the building we had to start using the other door for the flow of folks going through to work. So they were lining up on the sidewalk and there was no shelter and we couldn't build a veranda on the front, as it's a heritage place, and located right by the sidewalk."
Goudie said response from the community has been good so far.
"Most people walk by and notice that it looks very nice, but I think it will be very functional as well and bring a lot more dignity to the folks that are coming there," she said.
Tim Olive, executive director of the Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission, said this is very positive for the pedestrian traffic in the area as well as the surrounding businesses.
"The business community is very appreciative of these efforts in support of the clientele of Margaret House and in support of improving the overall pedestrian environment in our growing downtown core," said Olive.
Margaret House, which is located at the corner of Ochterloney and Wentworth streets, served 40,000 meals last year. They provide lunch seven days a week at the noon hour and on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, they have a second afternoon meal from 4:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
"We always prepare for 100 meals a day and serve roughly 3,000 in over a month," said Goudie.
The organization is non-profit and has hundreds of volunteers, from people that come in every day to once month, as well as churches that help cook meals.
"It's just an amazing amount of volunteers," she said.
Funds for the project were raised through FOOD fundraising efforts.
lmckay@hfxnews.ca
