How Cardiff Salad Garden CIC support their volunteers
Cardiff Salad Garden, a Community Interest Company (CIC) combining growing organic, fresh salad with working with disadvantaged people, were keen to organise a Big Lunch in 2021 to thank their volunteers for their work and dedication to the development of the garden.
Making it happen
Sophie worked with a handful of volunteers to organise the event, making the celebration easy for everyone to join in with and safe in the confines of the Covid-19 restrictions:
“We created lunchboxes, using fresh produce from the garden. The boxes were pre-prepared and everyone was able to collect their box on the day and enjoy the produce together outdoors, in the garden.”
Sophie made sure there was a variety to ensure that the children could join in as well: “All the food was vegetarian with pasta, curry and tofu salad. There were plenty of delicious cakes too. Everyone loved it!”
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Reconnection
Sophie firmly believes that everyone benefited from the event, especially as many people hadn’t seen each other for a long time:
“Usually only three volunteers can be in the garden at one time, so this was an opportunity for many of us to get together from a distance, and enjoy the atmosphere and the development of the garden itself. About 25 of us were there, and everyone really appreciated the opportunity to reconnect, catch up with each other and make sure everyone was okay after such a challenging time. It prompted us to organise more events like this to bring us together more often. We will definitely be taking part in The Big Lunch again in future.”
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“The Big Lunch offered us the opportunity to get together and reconnect for the first time in a while. It has been a great opportunity for us to get everyone together to celebrate the success of the garden and to thank the valuable contribution of the crew over the years. It’s so important to make time and space to reconnect in this way, it’s so valuable. We’ve all benefited and can’t wait for next time!”
Sophie, founder of Cardiff Salad Garden
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