Knowledge Shared, Knowledge Gained: The Irwin Park Community Outreach Partnership
Irwin Park, a pristine area located between Sooke Road and Highway 1, on the outskirts of Victoria,(above the new Westhills LEED project) was once a privately owned campsite created and developed by Joe Pekter. Joe came to Canada during the Hungarian Revolution in the late fifties and acquired this 114 acre parcel in 1971. He worked tirelessly, in the first few years, creating two man-made lakes separated by a dam, established over a hundred campsites and it became known as Humpback Campgrounds.
Colwood Rotary member Gerry Kalk, suggested to the club that the Humpback Campsite would be an ideal spot for an environmental clean-up project under consideration. The club supported the idea and approached the City of Langford and the Community Education Program of Sooke School District, now known as the WestShore Centre, to consider involving young adult students in the clean up. The National Literacy Secretariat of the Federal Government was approached to provide funding for a four-way partnership with the City of Langford, Colwood Rotary, the WestShore Centre for Learning and Training and the University of Victoria. The concept expanded and evolved to include other aspects.
During the school year of 2005-2006, on Thursday afternoons two University of Victoria graduate students taught the 20-25 students media skills and then Friday mornings the group headed out to the park, cleaned up brush, cut down trees, built snake fences, planted indigenous plants/trees and generally improved the site. How the late Gerry Kalk would have loved to see the result of his idea!