In October 2013, CAA South Central Ontario held its annual RecycleDrive campaign, in partnership with Ontario Tire Stewardship (OTS). The program encourages CAA Members and the public to recycle their used tires, oil and batteries through CAA’s Approved Auto Repair Services (AARS) locations. The AARS location that collects the most tires, wins a $20,000 Community Revitalization prize to donate to a local school.
The team at Auto Guys vehicle repair in St. Thomas took the challenge to heart. Having seen the results of the 2012 RecycleDrive campaign, the group chose Elgin Court Public School prior to the campaign launch, rallied the community and spread the word – loud and clear. In an amazing show of spirit, the St. Thomas community answered the call in a big way. Auto Guys collected a record-setting 2,238 tires during the two-week campaign, and Elgin Court Public School was awarded the opportunity to revitalize their school grounds.
And then, the leg work began. CAA SCO, working with Sheridan Nurseries, approached Landscape Ontario in London for volunteers. Beamish Landscape Services and Bob Allen Horticultural Services stepped up immediately.
The space that was chosen for revitalization at school had become worn over the years and was sitting idle. The project team worked together, and a beautiful new vision for the space was created, one where the students were free to play.
The new space will have an outdoor classroom, fruit/vegetable planters, a quiet corner with tables, a garden along the length of a main wall, and many trees. All of these features would be tied together with Elgin Court’s choice of recycled rubber pour-in-place flooring, and rubber mulch for the planters. While waiting for the snow to melt last winter, the project team focused its efforts on fundraising and finalizing design and installation details. Now, after almost 16 months of hard work and dedication, the vision is becoming a reality. The new space is beginning to take shape, and we are very excited to be part of this incredible community-driven project. Have a look at the progress below.
Things are moving beautifully and we’ll celebrate the grand opening of the new green space at Elgin Court Public School soon.
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