By Sheila Phibbs
The Haldimand Press
While agriculture businesses generally provide products and services to farmers and farm related clients, they are also in the practice of helping the broader community. A recent $9,000 grant from the Gay Lea Foundation toward the new Hagersville Library and Active Living Centre will help reflect the heritage and value of agriculture to the community.
Paul Diette, Haldimand Library CEO, states, “The Haldimand County Public Library is extremely grateful for the Gay Lea Foundation’s generous grant…. The funds will be used to add enhanced elements that showcase the community’s cultural heritage, including its agricultural past, and house innovative collections that speak to residents’ unique interests and reflect the local economy.”
Exhibit units will highlight local farming artifacts and new works by individuals representing the future of agriculture in Hagersville. Diette adds, “A custom-built seed collection display unit will encourage all residents to learn about where food comes from and how crops develop by ‘taking and leaving’ a variety of seeds.”
According to Diette, similar small-scale pilot seed library programs were launched in the spring of 2022 at the Dunnville and Jarvis branches and proved very successful. He says, “We’re confident a larger-scale, well displayed seed collection in Hagersville will also prove of interest and value to the community.”
Tony Dalimonte, Councillor for Ward 4, which includes Hagersville, notes that community feedback on the new Hagersville Library and Active Living Centre has been very positive. He says, “I’m extremely pleased the Gay Lea Foundation has chosen to support this project. This helps the fundraising committee kick off the public fundraising component, which is really important.”
This is just one example of how a Gay Lea Foundation grant can benefit a community. The foundation website states that it is “dedicated to supporting education, poverty relief, co-operative development, and community wellbeing projects in communities where our members live, work, and play – and in developing countries around the world.”
Janet Ringelberg, Chairperson of the Gay Lea Foundation, is a dairy farmer in nearby Wentworth County. She explains that Gay Lea Foods is a farmer owned co-operative; approximately 1,400 dairy farmers/producer members from Ontario and Manitoba own Gay Lea Foods.
Ringelberg says, “Hewitt’s is a big part of Hagersville. We like to make a difference in the communities where we have plants, farmer members. It’s a way of giving back to the community.”
Hagersville dairy farmer Heather Peart is proud to be a part of the Gay Lea Food Co-operative as a producer member and a delegate. She says, “Gay Lea is processing locally produced milk and serving it back to the community as delicious Hewitt’s products.”
Peart has been a contributor to fundraising auctions for the Gay Lea Foundation, donating homemade pies and handcrafted quilts. She is excited that the Hagersville Library is receiving the grant to go toward an agricultural display. She shares, “The library has been near to my heart since story time, March break camps, and getting books to help with homework before Google arrived!”
Ringelberg describes the work of the Foundation as “the cooperative spirit of giving back to the community both at home and overseas.”
Since forming in 2014, it has provided $2 million to more than 100 registered Canadian Charities doing important development work in Canada, Haiti, Central America, Asia, and Africa.
In accepting the grant, Diette concludes, “The Gay Lea Foundation grant will most certainly assist the Library in its quest to provide residents with educational and learning opportunities and contribute to the community’s cultural and economic wellbeing.”
For more information on the Gay Lea Foundation, visit
gaylea.com/foundation.
