For Leicestershire Cares week 2019 - the Community Development team invited our business members to a day of volunteering at A Place to Grow. Employee volunteers from TT Electronics and Hinckley & Rugby Building Society, as well as young people from our very own projects were able to come along and get stuck into a day of volunteering. A Place to Grow is a Community Garden in Enderby that encourages local people to learn new things by producing and eating healthy food and being physically active. Some of the service users got stuck in also and were around for us to meet and chat with on day 1 of the project. These service users have mental health issues and varying disabilities, we soon learnt how important this community garden was to them in helping them in their journey.
The task at hand was to dismantle a huge planter made up of railway sleepers, these extremely heavy loads of wood had to be broken up, sawed off and removed on the first day and the second day was spent constructing a similar structure using hay. Other tasks on site included painting of the pond and planters, weeding, mowing, and cutting back.
The volunteers thoroughly enjoyed the experience and commented about going back to their offices and encouraging their firms to do more.
Julie Chapman from Hinckley and Rugby Building Society said:
“I felt quite emotional when John explained the concept behind A Place to Grow and I felt he was very passionate about the rewarding work he carries out. I thought the group was very interactive (especially as it was the first time we met) and by the end of the day it was like we had known each other for years. It has made me think about the vulnerable people in our society that with constant funding cuts must feel more and more isolated. What a lovely place for them to visit and make a difference to the garden.”
All in all we had a great day, the young people enjoyed themselves and we all left feeling really fulfilled.