In addition to our individual volunteers, we have been fortunate to have assistance from multiple corporate workteams again this year. Their organizations offer them time to work in the community and they took that opportunity to donate their time to us. In particular, the leadership team would like to thank Turner and Townsend, Tricon Residential, First Capital, and Manulife, and their staff organizers for lending their employee volunteers to us multiple times this season.
The garden thanks the following teams:
Deciem, The Abnormal Beauty Company: On April 16,2025 they helped us plant our first crops in the raised beds. Thank you to Robyn, Elexciss, Ain, Zoey, Ginnie and Brian. They definitely get the award for working in the worst weather of the year.
Turner and Townsend: On May 9, this team helped weed the north section of the garden and tie up raspberries so they can be harvested later in the spring. Thank you to Raj, Misha, Galen, Jamal, Jessie, Ricky, Rodrigo, Eugene, Maria, Amr, Thy, Sakthi
And on July 11th, another group from Turner and Townsend joined us under blistering heat and weeded around the pole beans to ensure their best change of growing. Thank you to Thy, Biljana, Syed, Berhad and Sheree.
And August 8th, another group from Turner and Townsend braved the blistering heat to harvest for donation and clean up a perennial bed. Thank-you to: Dominic, Laetitia, Fatema, Amanda, Christelle, Jaime, Terry, Reza, Lucia, Vincent, Rob and Alan.
And yet another group from Turner and Townsend volunteered on September 19! Group 4 harvested for a woman’s shelter, and then weeded and composted winter beds. Thanks go to Sam, Diana, Betul, Sebastian, Luke, Rupam, Ken and Biljana (her second time volunteering!) and Thy, for organizing all the groups and volunteering for the fourth time!
Manulife Bank: On May 14, Manulife Bank worked on weeding, composting and planting beds in the south garden. Thank you to: Arista, Anjali, Corina, Chirag, Veronica, Aries, Tarek, Sean, Jon, Shanil, Andrew
Walt Disney Canada: On May 21, this team weeded, composted and planted beds in the South Garden. Thank you to: Grace, Karen, Joni, Caroline, Melissa, Dan, Nicole.
Compugen: On May 27 the Compugen summer interns team worked on weeding and planting beds in the south garden. This was their second year supporting the garden. Thank you to Caroline, Jenish, Nathan, Taha, Alexa, Andrew, Qasim, Riya, Yuchen, Ryan, Manny and organizer Cherese.
First Capital: On May 30, 2025 this team planted bush beans, tomatoes and broccoli. Thank you to Goran, Mario, Merv, Elnaz, Michael, Gary, Maia, Justyn, Serlina, Sarah, Shishir and organizer Nadia. This was their second year in a row working in the garden. And thank you to Nadia’s MIL for donating a hot pepper plant.
On June 25, an additional group from First Capital joined us in the garden. Thank you to Kiarash, Manish, Brian, Angie, Mary, Ashley, Lin, Helen, Ryan and Manal, who weeded in crazy heat to rescue beans and tomatoes from encroaching weeds.
Toogoodtogo: On June 4, 2025, the Toogoodtogo team weeded and replanted carrots, swiss chard, beets and turnips. Thank you to Meghan, Camila, Cherry, Jess, Kinga, Madeline, Melvin, Meriem, Matthew, Sahand, Thomas, Tanguy, Victor and Wesley.
Arch Capital Group: On June 10, 2025, the Arch team began tackling the orchard cleanup! Thank you to Jordan, Farrah, Rumen, Aerie, Jackson, Ryan and organizer Malika.
Tricon Residential: On June 12, 2025, the first Tricon Residential team continued our orchard cleanup. Thank you to Melanie, Diana, Vinitha, Pranjal, Adam, Liam, Anna, Wojtek, Shivam, Pedro, Amy, Matthias, and organizer Kaylee. This was their second year in a row working in the garden.
And on July 8th, a second group joined us and tackled the absolute worst weeds and then harvested potatoes and raspberries. Thank you to Rommel, Vanessa, Laura, Leslie, Josh, Lalana, Shannon and Dominique.
Carma Corp: On August 22, Tory, Rejeanne, Angelo, Liza and Michael joined us from the local Carma Corp office and harvested vegetables for our local woman’s shelter and also removed a bunch of very obnoxious weeds.
Identity Digital watered, weeded and cleaned up all the front garden pavers on September 17, 2025. Thank you to the hard working crew of Judy, Umesh, Shadi, JP, Ashish, Chris and Kaylee.
A team from Enbridge Gas joined us in the garden in September 23, 2025. They pruned up the raspberry canes and harvested beans. Big thank you to Andy, Kelly, Lawrence, Ade and Asad, with our own volunteer work leader Paul shown in the background.
Alterna Savings and Bank visited us on October 3, 2025 and besides harvesting beans and greens for our local woman’s shelter, they put the strawberry patch to bed for the winter with weeding, pathways, and straw mulch. Thank you to Karen, Sanchita, John, Caelon and Prita!
And our final work group of the year, braving the rain and cold, was Manulife (Canadian Disability and Group Life) on October 21, 2025. They harvested and pulled out all our remaining beans and prepared the plants for composting. Thank you to Dawn, Chelsea, Vanessa, Teresa, Monica, Brad and Hillary.
