The Lethbridge Senior Citizens Organization’s ‘Meals on Wheels’ program is rising to the top thanks to new grow towers.
Courtesy of a grant from Credit Unions of Alberta, the LSCO has installed three permanent hydroponic grow towers at the Lethbridge site.
The towers allow for the growth of vegetables on-site.
“Some of the most expensive vegetables are herbs and lettuce and spinach and that sort of thing, so we’re actually growing those to decrease what we have to pay for [the] ‘Meals on Wheels’ food,” says Kaitlynn Weaver, the LSCO’s executive director.
“We use them [grown vegetables] in the diner and then they get delivered by volunteers.”
HIGH SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP
Weaver explains that the initiative was piloted by staff and students at Winston Churchill High School. “They have the same grow towers. They also have a community garden [and] they also know all of the science, and they are helping support this project with that information and with that experience.”
“So, we are learning from them to make sure that these towers don’t just become paperweights [and] they’re actually useful for years to come.”
She adds with a project like this, it is essential to have expertise on the subject.
“We’re really grateful for the students and staff, especially [science teacher] Mr. Geoff Waugh, at Winston Churchill, because he’s really been spearheading that expertise for us,” Weaver notes.
She says on top of saving funds to put toward other initiatives, having the ‘green’ space provided by the towers is beneficial to the LSCO in other ways.
“Just having the green in the building really brightens peoples’ day, especially as the sun goes down earlier. There are the lights that go on every 12 hours that actually act as, like, sunlight. I know for me and my office, I don’t have a window, so I’ll have a grow tower right next to my entrance, so I get to see the quote-on-quote sunlight of the tower,” Weaver remarks.
“It’s going to really help with boosting our mood. It’s going to be really festive with all the green, so as the Christmas season ramps up, it’s going to feel very fun and very friendly, and that’s kind of what we’re going for at the LSCO.”
The LSCO is inviting the community to its ‘Tower to Table’ event on Friday, November 21.
The event, from 1:30 to 3 p.m., will feature Winston Churchill High School students demonstrating how the towers work.
