Working closely with the Trust, this rural community moves ahead
Friendly faces, farmland and forest. These are three aspects that define the village of Edgewood. Let’s also add the fact that residents are willing to go the extra mile when it comes to making the community flourish. It’s a remote location, with only about 250 residents—and yet all that the community has been able to achieve is impressive.
The Trust is particularly keen on aiding rural communities in the Basin, like Edgewood, that may need additional resources or capacity to pursue their goals. With the helping hand of the Trust, small communities can see their possibilities swell.
In Edgewood, the targeted partnership between the community and the Trust began in fall 2021, with the first in a string of community consultation meetings. The subject was “the art of the possible.” How did folks envision Edgewood in the future? What actions could move it forward? Discussions and get-togethers continued well after these initial meetings.
Alice McKee, with the Edgewood Community Club and involved in the local farmers’ market, was one of the participants. “Everybody was on the same page of wanting the community to thrive,” she says.
Bill Dummett, with the Royal Canadian Legion No. 203 Edgewood, was also there from the beginning. The in-person attention from Trust staff has been “big-time helpful. It answers a lot of questions. You get a better feel for what’s going on and what can happen.”
And a lot can happen. Several projects have already come out of this collaboration.
The farmers’ market, for example, now has a covered pavilion that provides shelter from the weather, a washroom and a kitchen. The market organizers hadn’t even thought of doing such a grand project, but the conversations with the Trust “got the wheels churning,” says McKee. Combine that with a partnership with the local Legion and the pavilion is now a reality.
The Legion building itself is also currently an emergency readiness centre, available if disasters like wildfires strike. Dummett says the idea also came out of these discussions. “Why not do this?” they thought. Now, with items like a generator and a heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, it’s ready to welcome users in need.
The examples go on. There’s a new gazebo that offers locals and visitors a beautiful view of the lake. The volunteer fire department is providing more wildfire resiliency training to fire department members and adding additional wildfire prevention and protection equipment. As for the Trust’s part, money isn’t the only support it has provided, but also guidance in helping the community to identify its common goals and prepare proposals, with continued aid once a project gets the go-ahead. For the emergency readiness centre, for example, “We definitely felt a lot of support and got a lot of help getting things organized and finding information,” Dummett says. The Trust also helped the volunteer fire department find information on equipment and training. When constructing the pavilion, McKee says Trust staff “went above and beyond.”
Bill Penner, of the Edgewood Community Club, has been closely involved in projects like the gazebo. “If it wasn’t for Columbia Basin Trust sponsoring projects like these, things wouldn’t get done in our rural communities,” he says. Without this aid, “These communities can’t move forward.”
All three Edgewood residents—Penner, Dummett and McKee—encourage other rural communities to work with the Trust. As McKee says, “You never know.”
