The Goldstream Valley Lions Club (GVLC) is looking for input from our members on how we are currently providing support and how you envision our roles in the community moving forward. We would greatly appreciate you taking a few minutes to share your feedback and thoughts with us.
The Goldstream Community Garden is a Goldstream Valley Lions Project run by volunteers. Join the Goldstream Community Garden in its efforts to promote, encourage, and share community in these times where food security is of utmost concern for all of us!
Our small but might community garden is open for the season!
Work Party: 4pm to 7pm every Wednesday of the season.
Plant Huddle: (all ages): NEW! Highlights a Plant of the Week (POW). 6pm every Wednesday of the season. Zoe Marshall leads a group casual sharing of knowledge. We will gather and share something we know, or ask a question about, the POW. Small booklets will be handed out each session and you will eventually build your own plant guidebook.
Workshops: We are all excited about the coming growing season and have some workshops lined up. All workshops are FREE!
Market: will now be on Sundays from 2pm to 7pm starting July 7. Please stop by for all sorts of green goodies and other crafty items!
We are always looking for new faces and new energies, so if you would like to get updates please let us know: goldstreamcommunitygarden@gmail.com
We will have frequent updates on Facebook: Goldstream Community Garden
Stay tuned and Happy Summer all…
Sunscreen weather is here! 
To forget how to tend the soils and dig the earth is to forget ourselves -Mahatma Gandhi
A new “living fence” is planted on top of a hugel mound. It will be covered in edible berries and beautiful bushes for park users and passers by to enjoy.
Beautifying donated lumber brings character to the garden.
Volunteers add a trellis to the space between two raised beds.
In February, 2020 the Goldstream Valley Lions voted in favor of fostering a Goldstream Community Garden on land owned by the club just behind the playground. The GCG is being conceptualized, planned and executed by a group of volunteers made up of Lions and non-Lions. The ultimate goal will be for the Goldstream Community Garden to become it’s own non-profit organization, able to manage it’s own operation and funds with a Board of Directors and association members.
For now, the GCG is relying on the financial support and infrastructure of the Goldstream Lions Club. Currently, the majority of the organizers are GVLC board members. We’d like this to change by bringing in volunteers from the wider community to help shape and manage the GCG, using these Lions members as liaisons during and after these coming years of transition. The Goldstream Lions strongly support this idea of a community garden and want to see it thrive as it’s own entity. We’ve seen some great progress toward this goal already.
While the garden is well under way, physically, right now the GCG is in need of folks interested in helping to organize meetings and the way those meetings will operate, folks to take, save and share meeting notes, folks interested in discussion and developing a fee schedule and rules for rental plots, folks interested in organizing community outreach events for children and adults and folks interested in overseeing special projects at the garden, fundraising and general maintenance. This would be a great opportunity to utilize your past experience in non-profit work or to begin your career as a volunteer and organizer!
If you are interested in being part of this grass-roots community organization please feel free to contact Zoe Marshall-907-885-7589 or CJ Russell- 907-460-4042. You can also visit the Goldstream Community Garden on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/goldstreamcommunitygarden and message the GCG there.
Our annual Easter Egg Hunt is a cherished tradition to the Goldstream Community and very near and dear to the hearts of our Lions. When we realized that we couldn’t celebrate Easter in the same way due to Covid 19 we were saddened and began wondering if there was anything else we could safely do for kids and families on Easter under such restrictions. Then something magical happened.
The Easter Bunny reached out to us saying that she wanted to still be there for Goldstream and find a way to make Easter special. How could we say “no” to the Easter Bunny?! After that call, Lions CJ, Dave C. and family started brainstorming how to safely celebrate with the families of Goldstream. The Easter Bunny began coordinating a socially distant photo booth with Lion volunteers. It all started coming together and everyone needed to work fast and carefully to pull it off.
On Easter Sunday the main building of the Ken Kunkel Community Center remained closed to the public, and there were no colorful eggs laying in the snow. However, the parking lot was staged with a marked driving loop, a table with goodie bags (packed by Lions following all safety and sanitation measures), yellow-vested volunteers wearing masks and, of course, the Easter Bunny herself!
As families entered the lot festive Traffic Troops Don, Kevin, Tim, David, Phill and Elsie guided drivers safely along the loop. First stop was the goodie table where Baggy Brigadiers Heidi, Christian, Leslie, Gretchen, Oliver and CJ handed out good cheer and paper sacks of fun for each child. Next, families lined up to the photo spot where our beloved Easter Bunny posed with the smiling car-fulls and waved to the vehicles occupants. Photo Phriends Felix, Silke and Scout took pictures and also contact info in order to send digital photos to each family. Finally, kids were able to leave a note or drawing in a special mail box for the Easter Bunny to read later on.
At the end of the day we had dispersed 60 goodie bags and endless cheer to 25 carloads of Goldstreamers big and small. It was a wonderful sight to see such ingenuity bringing a new life to our favorite annual event.
In addition to the festivities at the Ken Kunkel the Goldstream Lions had also challenged the community to create strange works of snow art for an “Odd Duck Hunt” that could serve as a self-guided driving tour on Easter Sunday. The idea quickly spread to other neighborhoods and while the window for making and viewing was narrow the melting remains can be seen all over our edge of Fairbanks. Thanks to everyone who participated!
This past February we celebrated our 40th Charter Anniversary, or OUR 40th BIRTHDAY(!!!), with a potluck, bonfire and fireworks at the Ken Kunkel Community Center. The community was enthusiastically invited and we all had a wonderful time celebrating togetherness and fellowship under the beautiful northern sky. The Goldstream Lions thank all who attended and we hope to celebrate our birthday each year from now on. 40 Years of Fellowship… and counting!
Maybe someone can name all these folk!?
Work party at the Ken Kunkel Community Center this Saturday, August 10 at 10:00am. Come on out and help with summer projects to maintain and improve your local community center.
Goldstream Valley Lions Club 