Grow Share cooks to be celebrated
Three Tamar Grow Local volunteers and their wider team in the Our Plymouth’s Grow, Share, Cook project have been shortlisted in the Plymouth Guild’s 2016 Inspiring Volunteer Awards, which will be announced on the 2nd June.
The aim of Grow, Share, Cook, is to mobilise volunteers to grow more fresh fruit and vegetables, the development of community gardens and the distribution of the food to those in need, as well as offering healthy cookery sessions.
Daniel Willis and Ady Cleaver who have both been shortlisted in a category that celebrates people giving their time in a Health & Well-being environment, have both been extremely committed to growing fresh vegetables for the Grow, Share, Cook project at allotments sites and at CROP based in Stoke which have then been distributed out in the veg bags and used in ‘Food is Fun’ cookery sessions.
Alan Hunt, Tamar Grow Local’s Volunteer Manager said: “Both Daniel and Ady have generously given their time to help others when caring for family members and having many other constraints on their time. The efforts they have put in to clearing and preparing sites to grow fresh veg has really made an impact on what we have been able to achieve with the project.”
The whole team of Grow, Share, Cook project has also been nominated for the Volunteer Team of the Year. The team includes mums who help with sharing their cookery knowledge to help others prepare their own fresh food; volunteers who help pack veg bags and those who distribute out the bags. The team includes people from a wide range of backgrounds, living in both Plymouth and Tamar Valley, including students, apprentices, local business owners, job-seekers and even an Iranian volunteer whose knowledge on gardening in much warmer climates enabled him to help advise on suitable crops for growing in the CROP poly-tunnels.
Tami Skelton, Nutritionist and Director of Food is Fun CIC who has been responsible for delivering the Cook element of Grow, Share Cook said: “Without the amazing volunteers that I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with as Cooking Mentors, the cookery sessions would not have had such an impact. The broad range of ages and backgrounds of our volunteers meant that recipients were given practical advice and recipe ideas to enable them to make the best use of the food supplied to them in the veg bags. Every Cooking Mentor is unique with their own style and methods giving a huge array of information that one person alone could not have done”.
Joanna who has volunteered helping to run the cook sessions for the project at Plymouth Community Homes, sharing and demonstrating her cooking knowledge said: "It was very rewarding and interesting experience. I enjoyed every minute of our project and found it extremely purposeful; it is amazing to be able to work and share your knowledge with people who actually want to learn something new. I loved when people were asking questions and were scrupulously writing down my recipes. It really means a lot for me."
Darin Halifax, Chief Cities of Service Officer for Plymouth said: ‘When we started Grow, Share, Cook over 18 months ago, I had no idea that it would mean so much to so many people. Our volunteers have turned an idea into reality and it is due to their dedication, hard work, blood, sweat and occasional tears that so many people in Plymouth have benefitted from the project. I cannot thank them enough.’
Chris Burnett, Volunteer Plymouth Co-ordinator added: ‘Volunteer Plymouth has worked closely with Grow, Share, Cook to support them with the good practice around all things volunteering and with matching volunteers to key roles within the project. Volunteer Plymouth is continuing to support the partner organisations with Volunteer Management standards and further recruitment or new volunteers. This year we had a record number of nominations and each year we find out there are many more volunteers that commit some much of their time to help and support the community. The Inspiring Volunteer Awards gives us the opportunity to give them recognition in style.’
For further information about Grow, Share, Cook and to find out more about volunteering opportunities, please visit www.ourplymouth.co.uk
