Events and Initiatives
Pollinator Plant Sale 2023
You can help butterflies and bees by planting pollinator friendly native species plants in your home garden this spring!
To buy pollinator friendly plants click here for an order form.
Click here to find more information about each plant.
Thank you to the David Suzuki Foundation for their support through the ButterflyWay Project.
For more resources on how to transform your yard into a haven for pollinators join the “Pickering Ajax Butterflyway” Facebook Group.
Thanks to Stella, Renata and Gail who spearheaded this project.
SORO COMMUNITY cleanup
The Annual SoRo Community Clean Up is on Sunday, April 23 from 1 to 3 p.m. Join us at the Rosebank South Train Park for clean up activities, games, and opportunities to meet your neighbours.
Thanks to Caroline and Colleen who are spearheading this new project.
SORO COMMUNITY Calendar
A NEW SORO PROJECT !!!
This first-ever SoRo Community Calendar launched last year! We are still looking for your photos !! We live in such a beautiful neighbourhood so we want to feature the wonderful things you capture, either in a future calendar or on line. Submit your photos (photos of art work that depict our neighbourhood are also welcome) to info@sorogoodneighbours.com at any time.
Thanks to John, Chantal, Terri, and Mary Ellen who spearheaded this new project.
SORO COMMUNITY Butterfly art
This first-ever SoRo Community Art Project demonstrates how everyday items and everyday people of all ages, can come together on the grid of the Rosebank Tennis Court chain link fence to form a beautiful, breathing piece of art.
SoRo resident Greg Jizmejian inspired this SoRo Art project with a vision to connect us with our neighbours and break down the fences that separate us. The image chosen is a butterfly – a social butterfly – how appropriate to have this outdoor art between our two community pollinator gardens in Rick Hull Park and at the front of Rosebank Road PS.
SoRo residents and City of Pickering Mayor and Councillors ventured out of their cocoons and helped install the #SocialButterfly on Saturday, August 24th, 2019.
LAST SUMMER, WE STARTED TO ADD BEES, FLOWERS AND GRASS TO THE BUTTERFLY ART, BUT THERE IS MORE TO DO. STAY TUNED FOR MORE DETAILS. IF YOU CAN HELP CUT PLASTIC INTO PIXELS PLEASE REACH OUT THROUGH EMAIL INFO@SOROGOODNEIGHBOURS.COM
You are encouraged to come take a selfie by standing between the wings of the butterfly and become the social butterfly we are all destined to be.
SORO COMMUNITY ART expose
This first-ever SoRo Community Art Expose project was intended for public display in September 2020 at Rick Hull Park. Unfortunately COVID-19 restrictions cancelled that event, so all of the art work was moved online. Art in a wide variety of mediums and from all age groups was submitted. Click on the link below to enjoy all of talent shared by SoRo community members
SoRo resident Greg Jizmejian inspired this SoRo Art Expose and we hope to host future events where art inspired by our beautiful surroundings will be feature
SORO COMMUNITY Kindness signs
These lawn signs were created to spread kindness, hope and positivity during the COVID 19 pandemic. It is so heartwarming to see them in gardens and lawns in all corners of our ‘hood reminding us everyday of the importance of being kind. The signs have been purchased by a number of people outside South Rosebank, including Napa California !!
SORO Kindness Rocks
At SoRo events we often bring rocks for everyone to write a message on. Thank you to the students of Rosebank Road PS for painting hundreds of rocks for us in past years. The rocks are placed around the neighbourhood and it is a delight to come across one. If you do find one, take a photo, leave the rock in place and post your find on our SoRo Facebook group.
Make your own kindness rocks and place them around the neighbourhood.
Remember that one message at just the right time can change your entire day…..outlook….life!
SORO FAMILY FUN DAY
SoRo’s annual Family Fun Day is for everyone – not only families or the young!
Enjoy an event full of games, entertainment, activities, crafts, stalls, prizes, bake sales and delicious food for all.
Next Event: June 2022 – If permitted due to COVID-19
SoRo Contact: Aeron E
SORO COMMUNITY CLEAN-UPS
Earth Day (April 22) and National Tree Day (September 22) are wonderful times to gather to honour our beautiful community with a neighbourhood clean-up.
SoRo Community Clean-Up volunteers will post the actual date and time of our next clean up here on our ‘virtual community centre website’, on our SoRo FaceBook Group and with neighbourhood signs.
SoRo Community Clean Ups start at the South Rosebank “Train Park” where garbage bags, gloves and directions are provided.
Click here for National Tree Day information and resources.
Click here for Earth Day information and resources.
SoRo Contact: Caroline H
SORO CREATE 'N SIP
Uncork your creativity! An annual mix of wine and creativity is good for everyone’s palette and loads of fun!
With the guidance of a professional artist, Abbeylawn Manor residents and SoRo Good Neighbours create away while sipping on a variety of beverages and nibbling on cheese – a relaxing Sunday afternoon!
Next Event: To be determined, so stay tuned.
SoRo Contact: Michelle R
ROSEBANK Road P.S. Native Garden and 'Rosie' the Ladybug
With support from the school’s parent council, students and SoRo volunteers, this award-winning garden has been nurtured for over 20 years.
Local resident Rhonda Cleary originally designed and created a landscape where drought-resistant plants thrive and where students can experience gardening first hand and study a variety of propagation methods.
“Rosie” the ladybug keeps watch over our pollinator friendly garden and is dedicated to Rhonda honouring her contribution to our local school and the community. Rosie was designed by her daughter Madison and crafted by metalist C.J.O Boone.
SoRo Contact: Gail L.
Rick Hull Park Pollinator Garden
In 2015, SoRo Residents partnered with the City of Pickering and Rosebank Road PS and converted an existing annual garden in Rick Hull Park to a pollinator garden, certified by Monarch Watch.
The garden has recently received a beautiful bench for relaxing and watching the active bee and butterfly populations ‘flit’ their stuff and a colourful sign that shares ideas of how to create a pollinator-friendly garden on your own property.
SoRo Contact: Gail L.
Rosebank Bridge Flower Boxes
The City of Pickering partners with SoRo Good Neighbours by installing and planting four flower boxes on the Rosebank Road Bridge. SoRo volunteers water them weekly.
They are always as beautiful the day they are removed as the day installed! Be sure to shout your thanks when you see a SoRo neighbour on the bridge with a watering can or pruners!
We welcome gardening volunteers of all ages and abilities. Please let us know if you would like to help in any way.
SoRo Contact: Carol K.
Soro Safe Streets
The SoRo Safe Streets Committee was formed to address speeding and other local street safety concerns. Elected officials have met several times with SoR residents and continue to hear our suggestions on how to make our streets safer for everyone.
The red and white SLOW DOWN signs you see around the neighbourhood is one of the City’s first initiatives. Chair Tony Harold welcomes more volunteers and ideas to help with taking action.
If you observe vehicles speeding, being driven in an erratic manner, or instances of distracted driving, and there is an immediate and present danger to public safety and seconds count, please call 9-1-1. If the danger is not immediate, then you can report such driving behaviour to Road Watch. Road Watch is a program that is run in conjunction with the Durham Regional Police Service, and is effective in addressing such driving behaviour. To find out more about Road Watch and how to report such instances, please visit www.ajaxpickeringroadwatch.com
Changing driving behaviour is up to each of us. If you slow down, so will the cars around you. After all, it is our kids who play here and all of us enjoy walking and biking in our beautiful neighbourhood.
SoRo Contact: Tony H.
SORO KNITTING GROUP
A ‘tightly knit’ group of creative people meet monthly at Abbeylawn Manor to learn new skills and socialize.
Projects include knitting toques for the athletes and coaches of the 2019 Durham Region ParaSport games, socks, scarves, dishcloths and sweaters. Watch for news on our Club knit afghan which will be raffled off in 2021. Proceeds to a local charity
There is always room for more knitters and crocheters. Bring your own project or learn something new and enjoy the company!
Meet: The 4th Tuesday of every month 7 pm to 9 pm.
NOTE: during COVID the club is meeting online.
SoRo Contact: Gayle C
ROSEBANK TENNIS CLUB
Rosebank Tennis Club (RTC) is run by a group of volunteers who work together with the City of Pickering, complementing the City’s mandate to promote and deliver healthy lifestyle initiatives in the community.
Pickering’s South Rosebank neighbourhood is a members’ only community club . Club members have access to two newly-renovated lighted hard-courts.
The club has instructional programs and league matches for adults and juniors and also partners with neighbourhood schools to promote tennis and a healthy lifestyle through sports.
Let’s Start Something new
Say Hello!
SoRo Good Neighbours welcomes and encourages folks to initiate projects that bring us together for fun, adventure and to celebrate our diversity and surrounding natural spaces. Putting a “face to every home” ensures our collective safety and sense of well being. Let us get to know you. Reach out and SAY HELLO.