Happy Mother’s Day!
On May 1, 2021, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm we invite you to join us at 351 Sandarac Drive (next to the SMCA hockey rink) to get Free compost from The Calgary Composting Facility. The facility produces high quality compost collected from the green cart program and the biosolids program. Big Man Landscaping has generously agreed to pick up and deliver the compost to our neighbourhood. Please be patient with potential line ups as we need to follow COVID-19 safety protocols. We will not be supplying containers for compost so be sure to bring something to have filled. This is an extremely popular event so quantities may be limited.
The benefits of using compost in your garden are numerous. Check out the SMCA website to see the full benefits of composting courtesy of Nick Bencsik from Big Man Landscaping.
As I mentioned last month, on May 6, 1986, the Sandstone Valley Community Association was officially incorporated. The MacEwan Community joined Sandstone to become the Sandstone MacEwan Community Association (SMCA). Sandstone and MacEwan are the communities with pride 35 years and beyond!
Several years ago, the SMCA invested a significant amount of money to rebuild the pleasure rink island and natural skating area that many of you enjoy. The SMCA Board has been working on two other major capital projects. Our first project is to replace the shed beside the pleasure rink, and our second project is our aging hockey rink. We are working with engineers to determine whether our hockey rink requires a complete rebuild or significant upgrades. I want to send a special thanks to our Directors, Jennifer Bidlake Schroeder, and Colin May, who have been patiently working through the complex and sometimes frustrating processes with the City and engineers.
Please help us continue to enhance our programs and rink areas by purchasing a SMCA membership online or by cheque. One-year memberships ($20.00) receive two SMCA beverage koozies and three-year memberships ($50.00) qualify for a SMCA go mug.
We have received lots of email interest in the Community Garden Initiative and a survey will be sent out shortly through our social media accounts. The Garden Committee is tasked with developing plans and working with the SMCA Board and City of Calgary to secure a location in MacEwan. To ensure the success of this initiative, there is a significant amount of work to be done, including applying for grants, and I ask you to please consider volunteering with the Garden Committee. If there is sufficient community support and enough volunteers, we hope to have the project approved in time to get the garden beds built and ready for the 2022 growing season.
We would like to thank the 224 Scout Troop who have adopted two planter areas beneath the signs on Sandstone Drive, near the soccer field. Their plans to develop the area north of the bus loop on Sandstone Drive were suspended last year due to the pandemic. Please give them a honk and a wave when you see them working hard to beautify our gardens.
We have over 1060 Facebook followers, 450 Twitter followers @sandstonemac, over 160 Instagram followers https://www.instagram.com/sandstonemacewan/ and 200 for email distribution! Do not forget to check out our website at sandstonemacewan.com.
Sue Coatham | [email protected]
President | SMCA
Celebrating 35 years of SMCA
