Help us launch new 'Garden Hope' projects

Aim

Garden Hope is about bringing hope to the garden and hope to the household through free-of-charge garden transformations and skills training

'Garden Hope' project has recently been a finalist at the prestigious Cinnamon Incubator Final in London! 

Watch James in the video above to hear his incredible 5 min pitch about the project.

GARDEN HOPE

Overgrown gardens. We all see them, but nobody is talking about them... and what are we doing about them?

What's the big deal? Surely the people living there can't be bothered to look after them? And they should sort the garden themselves and stop being so lazy?

The truth is each overgrown garden you see is just a visible symptom of something that someone may be struggling with at that time!

After meeting hundreds of people with overgrown gardens we've come to realise that they can't manage them for usually one of a few reasons:

• Physical health (they can't physically do it)
• Mental health (they can't bear to do it)
• Financial struggles (they can't afford the equipment or a gardener due to the cost of living or other bills to prioritise)
• Family challenges (they might be a single parent, or they've just had a bereavement, or they find themselves working all hours to make-ends-meet)

And before they know it, the garden reaches a point of no return. Then everyone points the finger, and no-one offers to help...

This is why we need your support! 

But how do we plan to address this problem?

We plan to partner primarily with Churches who are well connected to the communities most in need. Churches have hope in abundance! So many people who attend churches want to do something practical in their community to make a difference! Through the hope of the Gospel that lives within them, their lived experience, and their passion to serve others, we believe that hope will not only come to the garden, but also the household.

But most churches don't often know where to start, how to get a gardening project going, and know the finer details about what health and safety paperwork challenges they need to overcome before they start...

This is where we are the experts! 

Our founder, James Baker, originally started our work within a local church, grew the project, developed it further in partnership with social housing providers, expanded the model within a Christian Charity, and now runs a fully fledged model within a not-for-profit business (CIC) that is ready to support churches up and down the country launch their own 'Garden Hope' project, accelerated by the Cinnamon Network.

Could you imagine the response in the local community when your church transforms an entire row of untidy gardens on one street? Just think of the doors that will open to hear the Gospel and the lives that will be changed through the process? And the doors of opportunity that will come from local supporters and groups wanting you to help them too?

To bring hope to a household, first we must bring hope to their garden.

We start by meeting practical needs, engage with the resident through the relationships we build and the impact we create. We get to know more about the root issues they may have, and lead them towards solutions that go beyond the garden people and bring freedom in more ways that one.

Garden Hope is a project that every church can run.

Our Founder & CEO, James Baker, is also an Ordained Minister.

He knows what it takes to stand in the shoes of a church leader... because he is one! And through what we have learned over the last 16 years, we know how to help churches take these important steps to meet and help transform the communities that surround them, both practically and spiritually.

We would like to be bold and aim to raise money to launch new Garden Hope projects in Blackpool and up and down the country, providing free-of-charge garden transformations for residents who need it most, provide volunteer training for churches, leaders and the unemployed, and to bring hope to communities and green spaces, everywhere.

To launch a new Garden Hope project in a church, it will cost in the region of £2,500. 

This will provide a full complement of training, experience and knowledge to help establish a project that will keep on giving.

• Following the initial set up, the Church will join the Garden Hope Network, which is a growing forum of other church leaders developing their own Garden Hope projects. 
• The network will meet bi-monthly on a Zoom call and will connect more regularly through a WhatsApp group. 
• Members from the Garden Hope Network will be invited to take part in Podcast interviews that will be shared on our Podcast platform (to be set up soon), and our social media and website platforms. 
• We will all aim to get together in person annually for a big Green Space Garden Party and celebrate the incredible work that is taking place everywhere!

To be part of this network, we would ask that churches support us by making a monthly or annual donation to our work, relative to the size of church they are. We would recommend £2 per regular member (eg. a church of 50 people would give £100 per year, a church of 100 people would give £200 per year, etc.)

If the church would like to scale up their project or receive additional training then we can offer this as well at an additional cost.

Help us reach our target and go beyond!

Thank you

Kind regards

James Baker

Founder & CEO, Green Space Transformations UK CIC

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Our vision at Green Space Transformations is to 'transform gardens, transform lives, and transform communities everywhere'.

Our mission is threefold:

1. Empower the unemployed (transforming lives)

2. Support residents struggling with overgrown gardens (transforming gardens)

3. Provide reliable, affordable and professional garden services (transforming communities)

To learn more about us, head to our website here.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made