Community in Bloom (CiB) is all about creating beautiful spaces that instill a sense of community pride, and on July 30 the Niverville chapter held a luncheon to thank key people who have been integral in this pursuit.
Niverville is one of only four communities across the province to register for judging by the Manitoba CiB organization this year. The mission, as developed by the Canadian organization, is to “inspire all communities to enhance the quality of life and our environment through people and plants in order to create community pride.”
CiB is a volunteer-run organization which relies on local boots on the ground to get things done.
Niverville’s committee includes Annette Bryant, Erin Reimer, Nazli Sharma, Roz Krahn, Shirley Hoult, and Terry Martin. They are supported by a variety of other local volunteers and funders as well.
The national organization uses a multi-tiered competitive evaluation process which is believed to help foster community strength and improvement as well as volunteer spirit.
Some of the judging criteria includes looking at local areas of environmental sustainability, enhancements to green spaces, and heritage conservation.
Niverville committee member Shirley Hoult opened the lunch with a few words of appreciation to the many volunteers who help make Niverville a beautiful place to live. These include the residents responsible for planting and caring for 280 trees donated by TC Energy, the crafters who’ve created the poppy blanket for the cenotaph, families who participated in the Hespeler Park mosaic tiles, and of course the many community members and businesses who dress their properties in floral colours all summer long.
Not to be forgotten are the volunteers who worked hard at the Tim Horton’s smile cookie campaign in order to raise funds for the purchase of mobility vans.
“We began nine years ago with a committee of three and we now have six full-time members and four supporting members,” said Hoult. “Our projects can be found throughout the community.”
Short-listed in those projects are the heritage signs that grace Main Street, telling passersby of the community’s rich history. Every area of the community, as well, enjoys carefully curated and tended flower gardens.
Two Manitoba judges were in town to appreciate Niverville’s efforts prior to next week’s judging. Shirley Kalyniuk is acting president of CiB Manitoba and the mayor of Rossburn.
“When we live in a community, big or small, I think it’s critical that everybody should look outside and say, ‘Our community is so beautiful and I helped support that,’” Kalyniuk say.
She’s disappointed in the lack of Manitoba community involvement in this year’s campaign. The other communities signed up for judging include Morden, Morris, and Portage la Prairie.
It’s been an uphill battle to bring interest back when it comes to CiB involvement after the pandemic took much of the air out of their balloon. At the same time, the province pulled funding which, in prior years, had been enough to provide a part-time wage for an executive director.
Now the program is completely reliant on the financial support of sponsors.
“In 2019, it was the last year we got [provincially] funded and it was only for $3,000,” Kalyniuk says. “Since then we’ve gotten absolutely no funding at all from the province.”
She hopes that participating CiB chapters will lobby the government to resume support in order to encourage the building of healthy communities.
As well, she’d like to see more rural credit unions and Caisse Populaires get involved in community pride by investing in the CiB, like the Sunrise Credit Union, which is a faithful supporter.
The luncheon marked Kalyniuk’s first opportunity to judge Niverville firsthand. She was immediately impressed with the friendliness with which she was greeted and the many young families who she witnessed enjoying the town’s spaces during her visit.
“I can almost say with positivity that everyone who lives here loves it here,” Kalyniuk adds.
An official tour provided by the local committee left Kalyniuk with other positive first impressions, including the tidy appearance of the town, the lack of graffiti, and the healthy tree canopy.
