Burnaby Building SE2, 3rd Floor

Near the end of my term as the Chair of Transportation, Construction, and the Environment, Yael Zachs (the Executive Director of the Student Association) came to me with an idea—remodel the third-floor student patio with a garden that would help supplement our food pantry.*
The vegetables we grow would supply the pantry for students to access when needed. With the Executive Director’s support, I brought the idea to the Student Spaces Development Committee (which I chaired) for a budget approval. Once I received the approval, I made a detailed proposal for furniture and accessories for the patio.
The plan included patio tables and chairs, Adirondack chairs, umbrellas, and garden lights. After the proposal, cost breakdown, and layout design were presented to the key stakeholders, I had the green light to order the furniture, which consisted of patio tables and chairs from Uline and umbrellas, patio lights, and Adirondack chairs from Canadian Tire. The garden supplies came from GardenWorks, where I also found maturing vegetables like tomatoes, beets, carrots, celery, bell peppers, and zucchini. Following a week of running back and forth from Canadian Tire and GardenWorks and assembling the furniture with some colleagues, the patio was ready. [Text Wrapping Break]
Located on the south side of the SE2’s third floor where the sun beams down, it is now available for students to enjoy daily.

*The food pantry is a BCIT Student Association initiative in partnership with the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. The goal is to bring fresh food to the Burnaby Campus for students facing food insecurity.
Visit bcitsa.ca/food-support/ to learn more!