St. Anthony Catholic School Rips up School Grounds to Plant Garden

St. Anthony Catholic School is teaming up with local residents and Ecology Ottawa to tear up a portion of their school grounds and plant a garden. On June 20

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, MP Paul Dewar, MPP Yasir Naqvi and Councillor Catherine McKenney will help kick off the event from 10am-10:45am.

The Depave Paradise project will see volunteers tear up asphalt and install trees and flowers in its place.

The one-day event is possible thanks to a grant from the RBC Blue Water Fund, in partnership with Green Communities Canada.

“This Depave project is an opportunity to improve both the safety and environmental sustainability of our school,” says school principal, Paul McGuire.

Depave Paradise events will take place at six sites across Canada this year, with the Ottawa event kicking them all off. Over the past three years, Depave Paradise participants have removed over 1,000 m

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of asphalt at schools, churches, public lands, community centres, and housing cooperatives.

The gardens and permeable pavement installed in place of the asphalt soak up water into the ground, filtering it through soil and plants, avoiding runoff and pollution and protecting local waterbodies.

“Students frequently injure themselves on the hard asphalt. And in the summer the radiated heat is overwhelming. We’re glad for an opportunity to soak up some of this stormwater that was otherwise creating lakes in our schoolyard and flooding the city’s sewers,” McGuire says. ** Location ** : St. Anthony Catholic School, 391 Booth Street, Ottawa ** Date ** : Saturday, 20 June 2015, 10am-5pm