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Big loan means big opportunities for Halifax's Hope Blooms

Hope Blooms will soon have a 3,000 square-foot kitchen and community space that will be able to host all kinds of community events, says Jessie Jollymore, the founder and executive director of Hope Blooms.

Construction crews have already started breaking ground on new facility that is expected to be open next year

Brooklyn Currie · CBC News ·
Crews began work Thursday at the north-end Halifax Hope Blooms site, which will soon house a 3,000 square foot kitchen and community space. (Paul Palmeter/CBC)

What started as a small community garden in Halifax that's grown into a mighty youth-run business in the 11 years since its inception is going to get even bigger.

The organization is getting its own kitchen and community space thanks to a $1.2-million loan from Invest Nova Scotia that must be repaid within five years.

Just a day after the announcement was made, construction crews were already breaking ground on Thursday at the Hope Blooms site in north-end Halifax, next to the existing organic garden and greenhouse.

Jessie Jollymore, the founder and executive director of Hope Blooms, said the 3,000 square-foot space will allow the group to meet the demand for Hope Blooms' salad dressing and tea production.

It will also have seating for 126 people, Jollymore said, and will give them the opportunity to offer more food-based programs, and host art, food and family-oriented community events.

Jessie Jollymore, the founder and executive director of Hope Blooms, says they expect to have the kitchen fully operational by spring. (Paul Palmeter/CBC)

"We see this as such a great opportunity for people to really make a difference in their lives and the lives of others in this community," she said.

With more than 70 youth currently involved in Hope Blooms, Jollymore said they were well beyond capacity.

Craig Cain, 20, is a youth leader at Hope Blooms who started with the organization when he was eight years old. He and a handful of others in the organization made national headlines in 2013, when they were given $40,000 with no strings attached after pitching their business plan to CBC's Dragons' Den.

Craig Cain, 20, has spent more than half his life as a member of Hope Blooms. He joined when he moved to the neighbourhood at just eight years old. (Paul Palmeter/CBC)

"We'll be able to finish what we started here," he said. "It's just been so great, and a blessing."

Jollymore said it's always been the group's dream to have a permanent place to call their own.

"To actually see this happening is showing the kids that you can really dream big, and work really hard, and involve others and make dreams come true," she said.

Construction crews broke ground on the new addition just a day after the loan was announced. (Paul Palmeter/CBC)

"Knowing that we'll have this safe spot, and it will actually be ours, for us, it's like a homecoming," Cain said.

The kitchen is expected to be up and running by April 1, 2020.

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With files from Paul Palmeter

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