People of Parks: Anita Georgy of Richmond Food Security Society
In this special series, Park People explores the people who activate the power of parks across Canada. This issue features Anita Georgy, Executive Director of Richmond Food Security Society, an organization that uses education, advocacy, and community building initiatives to build a robust food system in B.C’s fourth largest city. The organization manages all of the City of Richmond’s community gardens, has a seed library, a community kitchen, fruit recovery program and youth leadership initiative.
How did your involvement with parks begin?
My very first job was in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. I was just out of university and led a youth camping trips with Stanley Park Ecology Society. In Richmond, the issue of food security is in the Parks Department. So, when I joined Richmond Food Security Society, our offices were in a park called Terra Nova Farm Park, and we run all of the City’s community gardens.
The relationship between food security and parks runs deep for me, and for the organization.
What makes parks better?
Food makes parks better. Outside cities, there’s a fine balance between people and the nature that must be kept to preserve wild places. But, urban parks are for people. Whether it’s a public BBQ, picnic benches or community gardens, food brings people into parks and brings them together. Cities need parks to be places of engagement, and food creates that.
Photo credit: Brian Grover
What’s your dream for Richmond’s parks?
Our parks have to be places where all different kinds of people can come together and connect with the natural world and each other. If we lose that connection, it’ll be disastrous for us as a society.
My dream is for people to use parks to be connected to the planet-even if that means lying on the grass and looking up at the stars.
As we are increasingly urban, food is something that draws us closer to the natural world that we’re all a part of.
What’s your biggest triumph?
My biggest triumph hasn’t happened yet, but it’s in the process of becoming reality. We’re working on becoming a partner in Garden City Lands, a 136-acre park in the middle of the city. Being connected to the community gardens and programming around food will help us serve our food security mission on a whole new scale.
What’s the craziest thing that’s happened?
It’s not that crazy, but what comes to mind was when I was leading a girls’ private school group through ponds, looking for aquatic invertebrates and one of the girls tumbled right into the pond. That was an up close encounter with the natural world.
What advice would you give?
Share your ideas. There will always be people interested in good ideas. There’s opportunity for anyone to do something that makes a difference. It takes people like you, with passion and enthusiasm to make things happen. Go for it! Cover image credit: Don Enright