In December of 1998, Alan Simpson, a founding member, leader and longtime board member of Ten Sinclair Housing Inc. passed away. Allen's vision and work in assisting people with disabilities spanned regional, provincial, and national borders. His work was formally recognized provincially and nationally as he received the Manitoba Order of the Buffalo and just prior to his passing The Order of Canada.
The Board of Directors wished to recognize the significant contributions Allan Simpson made to the organization and to that end struck a committee to identify ways that would most appropriately pay tribute to this significant individual. It was learned that Allan's wish for his retirement years was to develop an accessible garden in which he could partake in the activity of gardening. Upon further investigation it was also learned that there were few environments that focused solely on accessible gardening - an activity that continues to gain increasing popularity in today's society.
The vision of the project was to provide an accessible garden environment in which tenants with disabilities could trial and experience various accessible landscape elements enabling them to participate in the activity of gardening.
The Board of Directors developed a fundraising strategy to raise the funds necessary to carry out this project. With significant contributions from The Winnipeg Foundation, The Thomas Sill Foundation, the Manitoba Paraplegia Foundation and T&T Seeds Ltd. the project came to life.
The following pictures depict the work in progress around the building of 1010 Sinclair Street. The project will illustrate various working heights, paving materials and landscape elements that should be considered when designing for accessible garden. The completion date of the project is Sept. 13, 2000 at which time additional pictures will be posted detailing the accessible features within the landscape. Stay tuned!
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