Help refugees and local people grow stronger roots

Aim: Bring refugees and local people together to grow food, and support our garden to stay open all year round.

Hello, we are Manchester Urban Diggers.

From our home at Platt Fields Market Garden, MUD provides free meals for thousands of people, creates a haven for wildlife, and is a unique gathering place for the community.

For seven years, we’ve been learning and growing naturally – becoming a reflection of local people, their knowledge, heritage, stories, skills.

We’ve attracted volunteers from all over Greater Manchester to grow food, build bonds and prove what is possible when we share our passions, our time, and a meal together. 

Stronger roots for refugees

Strong Roots captures everything that’s amazing about MUD, and Platt Fields Market Garden. 

The weekly sessions bring asylum seekers, refugees and friends of all ages out of isolation. 

Together we celebrate different cultures, their foods and growing methods, and invite participants to cook together – sharing recipes and stories from their homeland. 

For those stuck in contingency hotels, people not allowed to work or connect with their new country, this programme is a way to find a sense of purpose and a feeling of home, again. 

“Every week that I come I do some different gardening activities and learn new things. When I see the greenery of the garden it improves my mental wellbeing. I have struggles in life and when I have a place like this I feel at home. I feel safe and that I can share my struggles and have conversations about them. I am asking for this project to continue because it helps people like me. It means a lot to me.”

Evelyne, Strong Roots participant

With your support, we can help so many more
The funding for Stronger Roots ran out in August 2023.

But with your donations we can build on all the hard work done by Lulu and Iman from MUD and the refugee community. This Crowdfunder will pay for us to:

• run the sessions once a week for 30-40 people. 
• cover participants’ travel expenses. 
• offer nature crafts and skills, gardening, food growing and cooking sessions. 
• hot and cold drinks and a culturally appropriate warm lunch for everyone

“In my role working with asylum seekers in the area, I come across many people who need to not just go out of the hotel but also a sense of purpose – somewhere to meet other people, somewhere safe for them and their families, where they can learn together. They report that after a day spent in the garden they sleep much better – reducing some of the visits to the doctor for depression and or anxiety. There is nothing else like this in Greater Manchester.” 

Jennifer Anderson, MRSN coordinator

Helping one community helps us all

For every pound you give, Aviva will match it. That means supporting Stronger Roots will also pay for us to build a sustainable, weather-proof shelter. 

The shelter will make the garden more accessible, and be somewhere cosy and dry for the whole community to use, all year round.

If you can donate we’ve got some top rewards. And if you can’t, please help by spreading the word, and connect us to partners who can support Stronger Roots, and the garden, to grow.

This project successfully funded on 13th November 2023