GROW SUCCESS STORY Art Vanden Enden builds trust and confidence in skills of newcomers
Like many in the grower sector, Art Vanden Enden was introduced to his career as a very young child. ”My parents operated a greenhouse business that was on our property,” Vanden Enden said. “So I was working and being in greenhouses since I was four and five years old.” Participating in the family hothouse tomato operations helped Vanden Enden develop a solid work ethic and although he didn’t personally love the product, he loved being surrounded by plants. “I was more interested in trees and shrubs and evergreens, so when I was 15, I managed to get a part-time job at a local garden centre,” Vanden Enden said. Paying it forward After 44 years in the garden centre business, Vanden Enden was getting ready to retire and wanted to give
Landscape Ontario to see if there were any teaching opportunities. Soon, Vanden Enden was running workshops and webinars geared to those working in the independent garden centre sector and branched out as an instructor for the GROW program in 2023. GROWing the talent pool The Landscape Ontario GROW program provides free training for new workers and current professionals in the industry. It aims to help individuals launch careers, advance existing ones and assist employers in attracting and retaining skilled staff. The program offers skills and safety training, delivered by professionals like Vanden Enden, and includes online modules and hands-on training. Job developers help pair participants with landscape companies with open
positions. Over the last year, Vanden Enden has heard positive feedback from employers who hired GROW graduates. “You know you’ve done a good job when you’ve trained [participants] well and they turn into valuable employees,”
back to the industry he’d enjoyed for decades. “I wanted to share my experience because I thought I could help people and I always enjoyed training,” he said. “One of my favourite things in my final 20 years of work was actually doing training.” So he reached out to his contacts at
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