Vote for Thrive to win £25,000
 |
Two gardening projects run by disability charity Thrive need votes to win up to £25,000 from the Aviva Community Fund.
Thrive uses gardening to bring about positive changes in the lives of people living with disabilities or ill health, or who are isolated, disadvantaged or vulnerable. This structured process is called social and therapeutic horticulture and comes under the wider umbrella of ‘green care’.
In Berkshire, the charity runs Trunkwell Garden Project set in a Victorian walled garden amongst beautiful countryside. Horticultural therapists and volunteers work with more than 100 disabled people ranging in age from 14 to 70 years. Thrive client gardeners may have learning disabilities, mental health needs including dementia, a physical disability or a sensory disability such as visual or hearing impairment.
Similarly in Battersea, Thrive works with more than 80 people over the age of 18 using gardening as a wonderfully flexible medium that can transform lives. Thrive sees first-hand how gardening can help everyone, regardless of age or disability.
Social and therapeutic horticulture is the process of using plants and gardens to improve physical and mental health, as well as communication and thinking skills. It also uses the garden as a safe and secure place to develop someone's ability to mix socially, make friends and learn practical skills that will help them to be more independent.
Using gardening tasks and the garden itself, Thrive’s horticultural therapists build a set of activities for each gardener to improve their particular health needs, and to work on certain goals they want to achieve.
Beyond the walled garden in Berkshire is the allotment which is used to grow a range of fruit and vegetables. However, the allotment and composting area is on a steep gradient making access extremely difficult and in some cases impossible for some gardeners.
The funding would allow Thrive to build a fully accessible pathway to the allotment plot and level our compost areas meaning many more of our gardeners can access and gain the benefits of this wonderful space.
In Battersea the money would go towards supporting the ‘Gardening for Good Health’ project which enables Londoners living with life-changing health conditions to experience the joy of gardening and increase the confidence to regain or maintain an active, healthy and independent life.
The funding will enable four 12-week programmes to take place over one year, with each supporting 8 client gardeners. At the end of each programme client gardeners are offered the opportunity to provide voluntary support for subsequent programmes and signposting to other community gardens.
Please take a few minutes to register with Aviva (they just need your name and email) and then cast your ten votes.
VOTE HERE: https://community-fund.aviva.co.uk/voting/project/view/16-2399
VOTE HERE: https://community-fund.aviva.co.uk/voting/project/view/16-1697
Voting closes on Friday November 18th.
|
|
