Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page

A beautiful community garden is being planned around the centre. Currently being planted, the garden will be a haven for all those who visit St Vincent’s for food, comfort or resources, so that everyone can relax and enjoy the surrounds, get close to nature and lend a hand in growing and nurturing the vegetables and fruit trees. 

A seating area will provide recreation space for service users and visitors to come and relax, while a separate growing garden area will provide fresh home-grown fruit and vegetables that will be distributed to local people. 

People who are hungry and coming to collect food parcels will eventually be able to come and collect vegetables to complement their parcel. “the idea is to give nutritious, healthy fresh food in addition to the pasta and rice, tea and cereal that we provide to families and individuals in need.”

There is a mental health component to the garden. “There’s a saying I know: to plant a seed is to believe in tomorrow. 

The garden will be as inclusive as possible and cater for people of different backgrounds and life situations. Many migrants and refugees that St Vincent’s serves through its English language classes have come from countries where they have access to a lot of land. When they come to the UK they find themselves without a garden, so the community garden at St Vincent’s aims to provide them with a therapeutic space that can help them process some of the trauma they may be feeling. They will be able to plant produce native to their countries and integrate with locals.