Garden Hope brings 'hope to the garden and hope to the household', through empowering churches to start up gardening projects that send out trained volunteers on local mission.
I cannot thank you guys enough for giving me a lease of life back after choosing to transform my back garden. You really have given me and my children the perfect space we’ve waited years for. I can now cry happy tears instead of sad.
Activity
You'll be tackling overgrown gardens and green spaces. You will receive training to proficiently use a wide range of gardening tools such as lawn mowers, hedge cutters, strimmers, mattocks, and much more! The project will involve bridging the gap for residents struggling to manage overgrown gardens, and for the church to build trust with them and bring them real hope.
Time
Our training is based around a 6 week model with just 1 or 2 days a week. Within this training, you'll receive vital health and safety training, inductions, practical hands-on masterclass sessions, and to put your new found skills and knowledge into action by transforming 2 overgrown gardens during the process. Once set up, the project can grow.
Cost
The project costs between £2,000 - £2,500 to set up from scratch. This cost covers all the training, tailored health and safety documentation required, course booklets, PPE for the first set of trainees, use of our equipment during the training, expert advice to help propel your project forward, and so much more! Once set up, it can run or scale.
Partnership
Churches would benefit from having a good relationship with the local social housing landlords and the local council. We can help to establish these links, but this will be where the majority of overgrown garden referrals could come from, and the church could source future funding for new tools and equipment to help grow the Garden Hope project.
Support
We will include all our partner churches in the 'Garden Hope Network' where we regularly meet together digitally to share insights, stories, good news, ask questions and to pray together. We will provide regular check-ins, and at request, we can provide further support, including additional training, a scaling road map, help with new partnerships and fundraising.
Resources
The church will need to have access to basic gardening tools such as spades, rakes, mattocks, shovels, loppers, etc., and also to have access to powered gardening equipment such as lawn mowers, hedge cutters and strimmers. The tools don't need to be professional and can be raided from a volunteer's shed to get started (this is how we started!)
People
The church will need at least 1 leader to oversee the project, and who can be trained to train other leaders and volunteers. To begin with, additional 3 volunteers would be an ideal minimum number. When starting out, you don't want to have too many volunteers, unless you have enough equipment to round or set up a volunteer rota.
Replications
Garden Hope has:
Replications
FREE Getting Started Guide
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