Clean Your Green

The Garden Looks Great

2009-08-21T06:03:00.000-07:00

The underpass looks the best it ever has. Weeding by the Herd combined with good flower weather (unfortunately for our summer, raining and cool allot of the time) has brought everything to life.

North West Weeding - Funny Story

2009-07-15T05:09:00.001-07:00

Yes weeds had been taking over the North West annual garden. We pulled out about 20 pounds of weeds on Monday night. Funny story is that a local resident left a voicemail for us Monday night about 7pm thanking us for the gardens, but letting us know we had let the weeds go in the Northwest. The weeding got done about 9pm that night by a late night crew of Herd members on their way back from a meeting. It only took 20 minutes and made a huge improvement.

We are sure that local resident was impressed when he looked the next morning and saw the weeding all done!

Major Maintenance Done Friday

2009-07-06T06:49:00.000-07:00

The Herd was out in full force last Friday adding more plants weeding and watering. A great few hours in the sun for a great cause!

More Murals Coming

2009-06-29T06:43:00.000-07:00

More murals will be coming to the underpass this week thanks to the work of the South Osborne Beautification Committee and the students of Churchill High School. The Herd is really looking forward to seeing what they look like.

Damn Rabbits

2009-06-17T05:50:00.001-07:00

Our rudbeckia's were taken out by a Rabbit attack over the last few days.

Rascally Wabbits!

Mulch is Spreading

2009-06-12T03:27:00.000-07:00

Jason and Tyler spread more of the mulch donated by St. Boniface Pallet on Thursday, further enhancing the North Side. Getty was also weeding and planting some surprises that will sprout a little later.

We intend to keep making the gardens looking better every day this summer and we are making that happen.

Sponsor Thank You Signs Up

2009-06-11T05:49:00.000-07:00

The 6P team completed the signs in the South East and North East gardens yesterday. These recongnize St. Mary's Nursery and St. Boniface Pallet for their incredible contributions (as well as IBEX and 6P).

Damn Cool Weather!

2009-06-10T09:06:00.000-07:00

After over two weeks in the ground, our 2009 flowers have not grown much. Unseasonably cold weather and lots of rain have kept the growth in check.

It can't last forever can it?

Clean Your Green 2009 Well Underway

2009-05-25T08:45:00.000-07:00

On May 22, 2009, the IBEX Herd, the 6P Marketing Crew and St. Mary's Nursery together planted flowers (donated by St. Mary's) fixed up signs and put down fresh mulch donated (as last year) by St. Boniface Pallet.

The underpass is once again coming to life thanks to the hard work of many.

Why do we do this every year?

2009-05-18T08:50:00.000-07:00

I have asked myself and have been asked by others why we keep on cleaning up and improving the South Osborne underpass and raising money to put deserving families in homes of their own through Habitat for Humanity.

The main reasons are simple. The first is a belief that if we all took the time to improve the world we live in and by this I mean the actual part of the world we live in, the part we can actually change by our own actions, then the entire world would be an incredible place. The second reason is poverty. There is nothing more shameful to me as the privileged product of a wealthy society, than to see children grow up in poverty or a hard working parent not be able to provide the fundamentals to their family despite great efforts.

Masonic Temple puts Clean Your Green over $15,000

2008-05-13T14:24:00.000-07:00

Earlier today, the Masonic Memorial Temple, members of South Osborne and neighbors to IBEX Payroll dropped off a donation for $1,000 putting IBEX's fundraising efforts over $15,000 plateau.

Getting Ready for May 15th

2008-05-12T16:11:00.000-07:00

Clean Your Green is getting ready for the Big Day - this coming Thursday. Volunteers are being prepped and the IBEX team is madly finishing all the last minute details for the event. We are all getting excited about putting all the finishing touches to the sites.

Regarding Thursday, CYG is excited to announce that MLA Diane McGifford and Mr. Tom Ethans of Take Pride Winnipeg will be attending the Press Conference on May 15th. As a result, we will be hosting:
- MLA Diane McGifford (Province of Manitoba)
- Mayor Sam Katz (City of Winnipeg)
- Councillor Jenny Gerbasi (City of Winnipeg)
- Tom Ethans (Executive Director for Take Pride Winnipeg)
- Darryl Stewart (Head of the Herd at IBEX Payroll Services)

Local MLA Puts Habitat Total Over $11,000

2008-05-07T12:23:00.000-07:00

A donation from our MLA, Diane McGifford, put the total raised for Habitat for Humanity Winnipeg over $11,000 today. Thanks Diane!

Work Begins

2008-05-05T10:16:00.000-07:00

Today the professionals from St. Mary's Nursery started the major work on the South Osborne Underpass. The Southwest Corner, the Red River Co-Operatives corner, was spruced up with fresh mulch and a stand of the "Karl Foerster" grasses that will be planted on the North Side were added to help tie the two areas together.

This area will not be part of the volunteer project next week, due to safety concerns related to the proximity to the CN main line. Many thanks to St. Mary's Nursery for making that call and doing the hard work in this area.

Fundraising Milestone Reached

2008-05-05T06:09:00.000-07:00

We crossed the $10,000 mark in funds raised for Habitat for Humanity Winnipeg today. Many thanks to Unionware, whose donation put us over the mark. So far we have raised $10,000 from 45 different organizations and individuals.

Mayor and Councillor to Join the Herd

2008-05-03T06:04:00.000-07:00

The Herd was pumped to find out that Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz will join members of the IBEX Herd and the more than 50 volunteers who will be out on Thursday, May 15, to help transform the South Osborne Underpass into a beautiful, sustainable green space for the visual enjoyment of the more than 40,000 commuters and pedestrians who use the underpass every day.

Mayor Katz will be joined by Jenny Gerbasi, city councillor for the area in celebration of the $50,000 project and to illustrate what can be accomplished when business and community work toward a common goal.

Details of the May 15 clean-up include the removal of infill that will be replaced by about 60 yards of top soil that will be home to the shocks of colour in the form of perennials, shrubs, mulch and concrete garden products. The project is possible thanks to the generosity of local companies who have contributed almost $40,000 in gifts in kind as well as more than $12,000 in funding from the South Osborne Beautification Committee, chaired by Councillor Gerbasi.

SOBC Funding Announced

2008-04-23T07:56:00.000-07:00

IBEX is pleased to announce a major partnership with the South Osborne Beautification Committee.

The South Osborne Beautification Committee (SOBC) has committed more than $12,000 to the IBEX Clean Your Green 2008 campaign that will help transform the South Osborne Underpass into a permanent, sustainable green space for the visual enjoyment of the 40,000 commuters and pedestrians who use the underpass to travel to and from downtown Winnipeg every day.

In addition to the funding commitment from SOBC, IBEX has received more than $20,000 ! in gift-in-kind contributions for the project, including perennials, mulch, concrete garden products and 60 yards of soil that will contribute to the aesthetic value of the project. Now in its third year, IBEX has already raised more than 30 per cent of its 2008 goal of $25,000 for its adopted charity.

With the support of the SOBC, the total value of this year's clean-up initiative, not including volunteer labour hours, is in excess of $35,000 to beautify and permanently transform one of Winnipeg's most under-appreciated public green spaces.

Below is a photo showing Darryl Stewart and Pam Gramiak of IBEX and Carla Hrycyna of St. Marys Nursery presenting to the SOBC.

Winnipeg Companies Take the Project to Extremes

2008-04-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

The actual clean up project for Clean Your Green 2008 has has gone to a new level.

Mainly thanks to the fearless lobbying of Carla Hrycyna, owner of St. Mary's Nursery and Garden Centre, the Clean Your Green project has gone from a small volunteer clean up and planting to a major project with large impact.

Carla has brought together the landscaping "dream team" of Reimer Soils (soil), St. Boniface Pallet (mulch), Inland Aggregates (landscape boulders), Johnson Waste (waste removal), Electra Sign (signage) and Barkman Concrete (sign base) to make her dream plan for the North Side of the underpass come true.

These companies have all agreed to donate their products and services to the project. Wow!

Gala Date Set

2008-04-20T18:34:00.000-07:00

The Gala Thank You Event has been set for June 12th, 2008 at the Park Theatre. Several great Manitoba talents are nearly confirmed. This event will be great!

Herd Geeks Clean Up

2008-04-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

On Monday the Herd Geeks ventured out into the IBEX garden on Osborne and finished what the Alpine Crew started the week before. On recommendation from St. Mary's Nursery, perennials were trimmed back further. Also weeds along the underpass railing were removed and another round of garbage removal took place. It was an extremely windy day, but as you can see from our picture, the geeks are a tough bunch!

The Herd Geeks are the programmers, testers and analysts that put together IBEX's software. The geeks take their work very seriously, but not themselves.

Alpine Geeks Open Season

2008-04-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

On Monday April 7, the Alpine Crew officially began the cleanup of the Osborne St. underpass in Winnipeg. One might say that the Alpine crew at IBEX announced Open Season on trash. Despite having cleaned up the area the past two seasons, 4 full garbage bags were hunted down. Troy, Harry, Kevin, Jill and Jason were out for the better part of the morning.

In the photo, Kevin is winking to the camera as he hands Troy a special piece of his pick up. It seems that the odd animal does make it by the area during open season. They may want to watch out for the IBEX hunters.

Big Celebrities are Mean!

2008-03-28T06:19:00.000-07:00

Growing IBEX from nothing with next to no money and only a big idea may have given us a false sense that we can do anything we set out minds to. The whole concept of Clean Your Green seemed appealing enough to me that we could get a major celebrity to come to Winnipeg for the thank you event.

NOT! It is very hard to get anyone's attentiong - even finding their real agent turns out to be a small challenge. Not to say we couldn't have pulled something off, but in the interest of focusing on the important goals of CYG2008, we are changing our strategy.

We are booking some great local talent. In retrospect, this is much more appropriate for our theme anyway, it is also allowing us to do something far more unique and ultimately far more hilarious. Wanna find out what is so hilarious - join CYG2008 and get yourself invited to the event.

The date is looking like June 12, 2008 at the Park Theatre - Don't put that in your calendar yet though.

Donations went over $4,000 this morning - and we still have hit less that 20% of our email list with the personal invitation to take part!

Funniest and Largest Donation to Date

2008-03-20T08:03:00.000-07:00

While soliciting donations to Clean Your Green we have also been inviting selected individuals to jump from a plane with us if we reach the $25,000 goal.

One Winnipeg businessman said that the only way his wife would let him jump would be WITHOUT a parachute, but he made up for not jumping by giving us our single biggest donation yet - $500.

Gala Event and Jump Details in the Works

2008-03-19T15:05:00.000-07:00

Lot's of work was done today towards nailing down the date of the skydiving and gala event and on determining who the "talent" will be at the gala.

Appeals have been made to some incredibly high profile people - hopefully their responses will be as warm as the first group that was asked to support Clean Your Green with funding.

Major Endorsement Received from Influential Committee

2008-03-14T12:33:00.000-07:00

The South Osborne Beautification Committee has endorsed in principle the goals of Clean Your Green 2008. The committee met last Friday and was very positive about the concept.

At the request of the committee, the IBEX CYG team in conjunction with St. Mary's Nursery will present a draft plan for landscaping improvements and general clean up to the committee on April 22nd.

First Major Solicitation Drive Underway

2008-03-12T20:35:00.000-07:00

This evening a select group of hardcore Clean Your Greeners are staying up late and helping send a personal email to members of the Winnipeg Executives Association. The WEA
has as members a cross section of prominent Winnipeg business owners and key managers, we have our fingers crossed that many will choose to support our cause. This is going to be a great test of our concept.

First Donation Received

2008-03-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

Clean Your Green 2008 received its first financial commitment today. The honour goes to Dr. Zsolt Egey-Samu of Focus Chiropractic. Not only did Dr. Zsolt give the first cash, he also agreed to get dirty when the work happens. Just so happens this year's project is right down the street from his office.