Bulletin - September 2023
We're excited to share the heartwarming collaboration between Stone Hearth Bakery and Meals on Wheels, showcasing the power of community support. We'll also introduce you to the dedicated summer students who brought fresh energy and innovation to our programs, and update you on the latest happenings at our Cunard Learning Centre and Clothing Options store. Lastly, did the bakers and Stone Hearth make the perfect batch of rye bread this month? Scroll through this month’s Bulletin to find out!
Stone Hearth Bakery x Meals on Wheels: Joining Hands for Our Community
In the spirit of community, Stone Hearth Bakery has teamed up with Meals on Wheels, an organization with a long history of delivering fresh, nutritious meals to those who need them. This partnership is all about nourishing our community and creating meaningful impact together. With this collaboration, Stone Hearth Bakery prepares the meals in our catering kitchen, and Meals on Wheels loads them onto their vehicle and delivers them throughout the community. It's a testament to the enduring spirit of community support that both Stone Hearth Bakery and Meals on Wheels cherish. Stay tuned for updates as we begin delivering our first meals — this could be the collaboration of the 2023!
Find out more about Meals on Wheels here.
Discover Stone Hearth Bakery here.
Spotlight on our Summer Students
Thanks to crucial government funding, we offered four dedicated students a chance to gain hands-on experience through full-time summer positions. Special thanks go to Members of Parliament Lena Metlege Diab, Darren Fisher, and Andy Fillmore for securing these positions for our students. Your support for our summer program empowers young people and strengthens our community.
Marketing and Communications:
Our marketing and communications summer student played a pivotal role in managing the social media accounts for our café, Ampersand, at Halifax Central Library. They crafted engaging content, from writing and filming to photo editing and creating interactive Instagram stories. This student also contributed to Stone Hearth Bakery's content calendar and dabbled in graphic design, creating digital assets for our social media accounts, notably for Money Path Atlantic. Their efforts have shaped our digital media strategy for all of MetroWorks’s programs and social enterprises.
Stone Hearth Bakery:
Another summer student joined our bakery team, contributing their skills in kneading dough, weighing ingredients, managing production, and packaging products. Their unique perspective enriched our workplace, as they have different hearing and visual abilities than our other bakers. This student's time at the bakery deepened their understanding of producing artisanal goods and delivering quality products to our loyal customers.
Common Roots Urban Farm:
Two of our summer students immersed themselves in the day-to-day operations of our urban farms at Common Roots Urban Farm Woodside and BiHi. They actively sowed, tended, and harvested fresh produce, herbs, and flowers. Through their hard work, they jumped right in to help the urban farms with their mission of creating better community connections through productive land.
At the Woodside location, the summer student managed the market stand all summer long and helped with the pre-employment program for patients at the hospital. For those that don’t know, the Woodside Farm is on the Nova Scotia Hospital in Dartmouth, which serves mental health and addictions patients and the wider community.
At the BiHi Farm, summer student Mike brought their curiosity and gentle spirit to the farm this summer. They enjoyed tending the beds of perennial flowers in the market garden plots and meticulously weeding the vegetable beds. They also showcased the farm to the groups of visiting summer campers and answered all their curious questions.
Thank you summer students:
Our summer students have been integral to MetroWorks' operations, whether expanding our reach through digital marketing, crafting bread at Stone Hearth Bakery, or nurturing plants on our urban farm. To our summer students: Your contributions are immeasurable. We hope your experience with us has been equally rewarding for your career and education journey.
Back to School for Cunard Learning Centre
Cunard Learning Centre is back after the summer break, with many participants already engaged in our Adult Learning Program (ALP). This program helps participants understand and achieve Levels I, II, and III of Nova Scotia's adult learning curriculum. We also offer evening classes to prepare for the General Education Development (GED) assessment — an internationally recognized high school equivalency certificate. All our education programs at Cunard Learning Centre are absolutely free.
Discover more about the Cunard Learning Centre here.
Clothing Options Opens
Alongside the AMP Café and Training Hub, we have another store open to the public: Clothing Options. If you love thrift shopping, this is the place to be for great service and unbeatable prices. The Options program offers employability training and career discovery to anyone having trouble finding meaningful and sustainable work. We provide training in customer service, alongside food services, environmental services, and office skills. When you visit Clothing Options, many of the workers are participants gaining on-the-job training. Stop by next time you're near our office on Bayers Road for a coffee at the AMP and a new sweater!
Learn more about the Options Program here.
The Perfect Rye?
This month, our bakers may have baked the most perfect batch of rye bread. At Stone Hearth, all our bread is special because it's handmade the old-school way. However, there are always a few batches that just hit those sweet spots. Was it a little extra love in the kneading? Perfectly weighed ingredients? The oven at peak performance? Or just pure bakery magic? We may never know, but our bakery manager was so excited that they shared photos with our marketing and communications coordinator. Now, we're sharing these beauties with you. Do you think any of these loaves ended up in your kitchen?
