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A Word from CEO Bryan Gilvesy
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It has been a great growing season for ALUS.
As I write this today, I am looking out over my ranch in Norfolk County. The hay is (mostly) in, the cattle are moved to their fall pasture, the trees are dropping their leaves, and the geese are flying south. Across Canada, our wide network of ALUS farmers and ranchers is hard at work wrapping up their autumn duties and preparing for winter. As stewards of the land, our participants ensure their ALUS projects produce valuable ecosystem services all year round.
This past growing season, we at ALUS Canada focused our energies on developing the corporate sponsorship program I mentioned in The Post at the start of this year. The New Acre™ Project is now launched, and we anticipate that it will secure important funding for ALUS programs, participants and projects across Canada. Read more about this exciting initiative below.
We also celebrated some important new funding this season, as you can see below: Alberta philanthropist David Bissett is backing a number of ALUS projects out west, while the Ontario Trillium Foundation is doing the same out east.
Thanks to their support, as well as that of our primary philanthropic partners, The W. Garfield Weston Foundation, and a large number of generous individuals, foundations and government agencies, ALUS continues to make progress.
As always, I want to thank the 22+ organizations who have partnered with ALUS Canada to deliver the ALUS program across the nation, with an extra big shout-out to all our Program Coordinators and the PAC members who oversee our ALUS communities in six provinces.
It’s onward and upward for ALUS!
-Bryan Gilvesy
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Fresh website for New Acre™ Project
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If you have not seen it yet, please take a minute to check out the new webpage for New Acre™ Project, ALUS Canada’s corporate sponsorship program. For corporations, New Acre Project is a unique way to make a positive difference in the world: you can help produce cleaner air, cleaner water, increased biodiversity and other valuable ecosystem services in the communities that matter to your company. For ALUS communities, New Acre Project means fresh support for your ALUS program, your participants and your projects, and a great way to grow the ALUS program across Canada. Find out why New Acre is considered a unique, innovative and highly reputable CSR option for Canada’s caring corporate community: visit ALUS.ca/NewAcreProject.
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Introducing the Bissett Action Fund
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On August 29, 2017, Alberta philanthropist David Bissett and ALUS Canada, a Weston Family Initiative, announced the “Bissett Action Fund,” a $500,000 gift which will support nearly 1,000 acres of ALUS projects in Alberta. Specifically, the Bissett Action Fund will be used to help 39 farmers and ranchers maintain 186 ALUS projects south of Edmonton, between the County of Vermilion River to the east and Lac Ste. Anne County and Parkland County to the west. These projects include wetland restorations, buffer zones around croplands, riparian zones with pollinator habitat, and wildlife-friendly fences that keep cattle out of streams to protect water quality. Read more...
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ALUS thanks OTF for $695,900 grant
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On September 19, 2017, ALUS Lambton hosted a successful event to thank the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) for a grant of nearly $700,000. The OTF funds will help establish five new ALUS communities in Ontario—ALUS Lambton, Peterborough, Middlesex, Niagara, and Chatham-Kent—which involve 750 participants and nearly 2,500 acres, and will also help transform three existing pilot communities—ALUS Elgin, Grey Bruce and Ontario East—into permanent ALUS programs. Shown here, from L to R: Ontario Nature’s Executive Director Caroline Schultz, ALUS Canada’s CEO Bryan Gilvesy, and John Fraser, representing MPP Monte McNaughton. Read more... And for more on the event’s gracious hosts, ALUS Lambton participants John King and Mary Ellen King (also a PAC member), click here...
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First-ever ALUS field day in Quebec
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On September 14, 2017, ALUS Canada was proud to join the team at ALUS Montérégie and 35 guests for the first-ever ALUS field day in Quebec. ALUS participants André Pilon and his family have established several major ALUS projects on their farm (Ferme Iber-Grains S.E.N.C.) in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, located 30 minutes south of Montreal. We thank the Pilons for opening up their property for this important milestone in the development of ALUS in Quebec. Shown here, from L to R: Jean-Philippe Pilon (ALUS Montérégie participant), Christian Saint-Jacques (ALUS Montérégie PAC Chair and President of the Fédération de l’UPA de la Montérégie), Lynn Bishop (ALUS Canada’s Director of Operations), Yasmina Larbi-Youcef (ALUS Montérégie’s co-program coordinator), André Pilon (ALUS Montérégie participant), César Largaespada (ALUS Montérégie’s co-program coordinator). Read more...
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Cream of the crop: ALUS on social media
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Everybody loves lists! Nearly 2,600 people checked out our August 26 Facebook post enumerating the Top 10 ecosystem services produced by New Acre Project. Turns out, this Top 10 list became our Top Post of the season. There's a lot more happening each week in the ALUS social media community: come visit us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
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