John* had never had much of an outdoor space growing up and had never engaged with what little he had. Sadly his relationship with his parents broke down in his adolescence and he never learned the life skills many of us take for granted. He came to us rough sleeping and in the grips of addiction and a chaotic lifestyle.

We supported John into temporary accommodation. Whilst he worked towards getting himself his own home and escaping homelessness, he joined our allotment project. He loved learning new skills, learning how plants grow and how you can work with them to encourage them to grow.

This involved monitoring plants over time and seeing how they develop; how you can encourage that, how to care for them. He learned that you have to be regular and attentive. The responsibility of looking after them taught him a lot of skills which he never had the chance to learn in his disrupted adolescence. He learned skills around planning and long term thinking. Alongside volunteering with us, the allotment gave John more to do in a week, things to look forward to and to plan his week around. These skills helped him escape his chaotic lifestyle.

John particularly loved growing potatoes from a seed potato. He had extremely limited knowledge of how our food grew and he loved the process from planting through to harvest. Pulling the potatoes out of the ground was an amazing moment for John! He was so excited to see all the fruits (vegetables) of his labour.

Sadly many of our friends never learn these skills growing up. We try to teach them these skills whilst they are with us. The allotment is an amazing opportunity to do this whilst also offering new experiences to our friends.

We then cook the produce from our allotment at our support centre. The people who have grown the produce are involved in the planning and cooking of the food and they can share it with everyone at the centre including staff, volunteers and guests. It is a moment of great pride for our friends who have been involved the whole way through the growing season, and a moment of inspiration for those hearing about what the allotment team have done together. Bangers, with homegrown mashed potatoes with fresh peas was a particularly lovely moment of pride for John.

John is now in his own home as a part of our resettlement project.

Help us bring hope and a future for the people we support. 

*name changed to protect our friends identity