West End Limerick Youth Centre named winners of 'Get Ireland Growing' initiative
The West End Youth Centre in Limerick City has been announced as the second weekly winners in the GIY and Energia Get Ireland Growing community initiative.
The community at the West End Youth Centre in Limerick City submitted an application for a community grow box stating,
“We plan to install the grow box at our youth centre - The West End Youth Centre. The West End Youth Centre is based in Our Lady of Lourdes community in Limerick City. We are a 'UBU - Your Space Your Place' Youth Work Project which is supported by the Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board. One of our core activities in our return to youth work services following the COVID close has been gardening. Over the past number of weeks, with our colleagues in STEPS School Completion Programme, young people have participated in weeding and planting at our centre, seniors garden and creche garden. They also made bug houses to take home. In addition, we planted shrubs at 'Matty's Garden' a community garden led by a local resident. We have discussed how mindful and relaxing gardening is. One participant, in particular, had called in his free time to tend to and water the plants and flowers. It has been refreshing to engage in nature with our young people in their locality.”
On hearing that they had, in fact, won a community GrowBox Eibhlis Bray, Co-ordinator at the West End Youth Centre said, “We are thrilled to be selected as the winners of a Community GrowBox from 'Get Ireland Growing'. We’re really looking forward to digging in and getting our community growing some food this summer.”
The Centre serves as a focal point of activity and purpose for the local young people in the parish of Our Lady of Lourdes, Limerick. Ballinacurra Weston. Their overall aim is to create a framework of ownership within the community and to offer the best possible youth service for all young people through structured programmes such as cooking, art, pool, woodwork and beauty along with drop-ins and group work on evenings and on weekends. During the summer the Centre offers over eight weeks of summer programmes and camps.
A Community GROWBox is a bespoke ‘seed library’, and once filled with the contents of the Community GROWBox it offers a community library of 100 packs of vegetable, herb and wildflower seeds all freely available to interested growers. These community growers are also encouraged to return seeds that they don’t use, along with others of their own that might otherwise go to waste.
It is hoped that each Community GROWBox will enable several hundred people to grow their own and in addition provide more food for pollinators this summer.
Applications for Community GROWBoxes will be accepted until August 14th 2020, and the GIY and Energia Get Ireland Growing team are now calling out to anyone across the country with a passion for food growing who would be interested in hosting a Community GROWBox to apply at www.getirelandgrowing.ie
Through this initiative, Energia has supported 257 community groups with grants totalling €220,000. The recipients include schools, NGOs and Not for Profits, community gardens and allotment groups, GIY groups, hospitals, crèches, direct provision centres and men's sheds all across the country.
For further details see, www.getirelandgrowing.ie to register and enter the draw for your free Community GROWBox. Share your food growing success pictures across social using #GetIrelandGrowing, and follow the Get Ireland Growing campaign through @EnergiaGIG on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.