For the love of lavender
Big Brothers Big Sisters benefits from popular festival
The Niagara Essential Oils & Blends Lavender Festival has grown each of its eight years, and drivers on Niagara Stone Road Saturday would have noticed.
The highway was jammed around the Niagara-on-the-Lake lavender farm, where cooking demonstrations gave people ideas on how to use lavender, tours showed people how essential oils are made, and lavender plants were sold.
Food trucks included a lavender pizza truck, complements of Johnny Roccos.
People were welcome to wander through the lavender fields to take photos and pick their own bouquets.
“Amazing attendance, so much fun, people are in such a good mood,” said Melissa Achal, owner of NEOB Lavender Boutique.
This year Achal handed over the first cheque from the proceeds of the sales to its Plant Charity Program.
“We have a charity oil. Every time a bottle is purchased, all the proceeds go to charity, so that is a year’s worth of charity that we sold. We donated the entire field, turned it into essential oils, bottled it into little essential oil bottles and sell it in all of our stores,” said Achal.
The collection began in January of this year and on Saturday a cheque for $5,235 was handed over to the first recipient, the Big Brothers, Big Sisters of St. Catharines, Thorold and District.
“The $5,235 is huge for us, it’s like a million dollars to BBS, it is, it’s huge,” said Dale Davis, CEO of Big Brothers, Big Sisters of St. Catharines, Thorold and District.
“Right now our waiting list is over 100, boys and girls, so it’s quite large. With these funds, we can direct them right towards matching. Our mentors are waiting, so we can estimate five to 10 children can now be matched and our case workers can work at that. And the exciting part would be, if it works out and you get the right combination, hopefully, some of the kids will be matched by the time they go to school.”
With the sprawling fields of lavender, greenhouses and quaint boutique shop, the relationship between NEOB Lavender and Big Brothers, Big Sisters is one that Davis appreciates and sees as a positive for the organization.
“It’s a good fit for Big Brothers, Big Sisters, a really good fit. Our Bigs can come out here with our Littles, so those are the kind of partners that are special, and it’s a nice friendship that start with partners like that. Relationships, they are everything for our organization,” said Davis.
Achal plans on continuing the Plant Charity Program, and choosing a new charity each year to donate the money to.