I began the project about four years ago. The most difficult part was finding partners. In fact, if we had paid for the project, it would have cost nearly half a million dollars. However, I only had $30,000 at my disposal.
The first step consisted in determining whether people and industries would get involved and whether they wanted to take on a project of this size. During the first year, we relied on word of mouth. We talked to people about the project.
I am also very involved—sometimes as chair—in a number of environmental committees in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, including the St. Lawrence committee, the ZIP committee, and committees on industrial parks.
When I started talking about the project, people were interested in participating, in doing their part, in injecting money into the projects or in providing labour. So during the first year, we relied on word of mouth.
In the second year, I recruited organizations from Salaberry-de-Valleyfield. We have some community organizations and some environmental organizations. There are some others, such as PRAQ—Pour un réseau actif dans nos quartiers—which is involved in the revitalization of older neighbourhoods. I really surrounded myself with organizations to obtain environmental grants, and other kinds of grants.
In the third year, we began meeting with people from the neighbourhood. We met with students, teachers—everyone—to figure out what kind of “green space”—or environmental space—they wanted in their schoolyard. We spent a whole year finding out what all those people thought.
In the fourth year, we initiated the program. That was great. We completed the project in one summer. It was difficult because, many of the volunteers were construction workers, so we wanted to use their services during the two months of summer and not during the two weeks of construction holidays. It took a lot of management, but it went really well.