The Shrubscriber Community
Shrubscriber is an online community that advocates for nature-based solutions to problems impacting Edmonton. We bring together climate-conscious citizens, nature lovers and gardeners to fund trees for community projects. Become a shrubscriber today and help build a biodiverse, food secure and climate-resilient city.
Virginia Park, Edmonton
Sherry Heschuk is an educator and community activator, splitting her time between teaching in Athabasca and volunteering in her home neighbourhood of Virginia Park.
In 2019, Sherry began working for Commonwealth Games Association as the Edmonton ambassador promoting sports for newcomers (S4N) to the city. While in her role, she noticed that many participants showed up hungry and increased interest in sports nutrition. In working to provide participants, Sherry realized that many of the girls and women in the community were interested in sharing their garden stories. One of the Newcomers was a youth beekeeper, which led to her becoming a certified beekeeper through Dustin’s beekeeping courses.
Sherry is the Sustainability Chair for Virginia Park and an advocate for the Abundant Community Edmonton (ACE) program and connects community members to build food security and equity. In 2020 Sherry and community members worked with the City of Edmonton to receive a Partners in Parks Agreement to cultivate a small community park. The group spent the last year preparing the garden site and hoped to plant fruit-bearing trees this fall, including apricots and other plants that would provide a foundation for the Virginia Park elementary school’s greening of their park spaces.
By working with the Belleview community league, Sherry and other league members supported community health, sustainability, and social equality by creating a food hampers program for the Al Mustafa Academy.
Recently, Sherry attended a Participate Edmonton workshop hosted by Edmonton Poet Laureate Nisha Patel. The workshop aimed to give voices to Edmontonians – a skill that Sherry is implementing in her community to promote storytelling and food security. With the help of a City of Edmonton, Abundant Community Edmonton Grant, Sherry is researching the historical greenhouses, trees, parks, and forest of Virginia Park.
Why Sherry Joined Shrubscriber
As her roles continue to change, Sherry strives to reconnect others who feel less connected to nature and each other. Sherry joined Shrubscriber to find ways to further build connections within and bring new ideas to her community.
Sherry brings her collaborative nature to Shrubscriber and is skilled in community engagement and activation. She would love to help others promote their work around food security and celebrating local stories.
Sherry has rented the Bellevue community hall for the 101st celebration of her neighbourhood and would like to extend an invite to Shrubscriber members.
Sherry’s Shrubscriber Ask
As sustainability coordinator, Sherry hopes to promote Indigenous collaborative storytelling and to share stories around food. She is very excited about HungryZine, a community-focused zine centring on radical food stories, art and culture” and would like to invite Shrubscribers to share their old recipes – especially if they involve locally harvested ingredients.
Sherry’s Great-Grandmother, Pearl Ogryzlo, and Ukrainian heritage have been an inspiration to her. Throughout her work, Sherry wants to continue to value seniors and elders, their contributions, knowledge and sharing of histories – storytelling is one of her favourite things to do in her neighbourhood.
Sherry’s Great-Grandmother’s Million Dollar Pickle Recipe:
Sherry Heschuk’s great grandmother’s million-dollar pickle recipe
