Daffodil Project aiming for 40,000 more bulbs

By Gillian Slade on October 17, 2018.

Medicine Hat News

A total of 22,000 daffodil bulbs have now been put to rest in the ground until spring but The Daffodil Project is already working on achieving its goal for next season.

Organizers say the aim is to raise enough money in the next seven months to buy 40,000 bulbs.

The Daffodil Project has a goal of seeing a million bulbs planted by 2025 along the Trans-Canada Highway from Redcliff to Dunmore, a stretch of about 10 kilometres. The purpose is simply to beautify the environment each spring.

The fourth planting season was successfully achieved with nearly 100 volunteers, some of whom travelled considerable distances to be part of the planting process, particularly at Len Mitzel Meadow.

A number of businesses also play a major role, making it possible for The Daffodil Project to operate with every cent of donations for bulbs going to the purchase of bulbs.

Peavey Mart generously donates items such as buckets, rakes, and gardening gloves. Niwa Crane takes delivery of the bulbs, stores them safely, loads up the crates on one of its trucks in the quantity needed and provides transport to the site. Grand Rental Station and A-Plus Rental each provide a ditch witch on planting days free of charge. Without those ditches there simply would not be a place to place the bulbs for planting. Tim Hortons in Northlands provides coffee and Able Limousine provides chairs for volunteers at the planting sites.

The project depends on donations from the public and businesses to buy the bulbs for about 20 cents each. A donation of $150 buys about 750 bulbs. Anyone who donates 20,000 bulbs, a cost of about $4,000, gets to name a planting site. The site between the Saamis Tepee and Medicine Hat Visitor Centre has not been named yet. Len Mitzel Meadow was named after a donation by Adair Prouty. The planting near the college sign is RE/MAX Medalta Meadows because they donated the first 20,000 bulbs for the project.

A site could be named in memory of a loved one or in honour of someone special in your life.

Donations can be made through the project’s trust account at ATB Financial, account number 07329-00410789600. Email a copy of your bank deposit slip for acknowledgment of the donation with your name recorded on the website. Alternatively a cheque, made out to The Daffodil Project, can be mailed care of 3257 Dunmore Road S.E., Medicine Hat, T1B 3R2. There is also a collection box at the Visitor Centre.

For more information, contact the Daffodil Project’s chair, Gillian Slade, 403-528-8635, email: hatdaffodils @gmail.com, or visit the website: medhatdaffodils.wordpress.com where you can see a range of photographs and take a look at the financial transparency page.

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