Charity’s life-changing Good Lives project delivers recipe for community success

MORE than 70 people turned up to find out how they can get involved in a triple award-winning charity’s latest initiative to give people vital skills and improve their health and well-being.

Home To Work, which has an impressive track record of helping people transform their lives, has just launched its Good Lives project, a healthy food-growing programme providing therapeutic support for learners, many of whom have mental health issues.

Organisations, businesses, and individuals from across Cumbria are already pledging their support to the charity’s Good Lives initiative after it held an open day on Wednesday (July 27) at its project site near Whitehaven.

Home To Work, which has already scooped three separate awards this year for its work in the community, is developing Good Lives on a two-acre plot of land at Westlakes Science Park loaned to it by profit-for-purpose property organisation BEC.

Volunteers from local businesses and Home To Work learners have been busy turning the land into a nursery, complete with raised beds for produce to be planted up. The produce will then be used by the charity as ingredients to help learners develop their skills to cook healthy meals.

To showcase the potential of the initiative and the site, Home To Work hosted an Open Day, with visitors transported free of charge from Cleator Moor and the surrounding area by the charity’s own shuttle bus, donated to them by engineering firm Shepley. Calderwood House also donated coffee for all visitors. 

Karen Jones, managing director of Home to Work, said: “The Open Day was an amazing success. We had far more people attending and saying they would like to get involved in Good Lives than I had ever dreamed of. We’ve had offers of everything from polytunnels to plants.

“Good Lives is such a wonderful initiative, it really seems to have resonated with people who can see both the immediate benefits, and the long-lasting, sustainable difference it will make to people’s lives across the community.

“It wouldn’t have even got off the ground without the help and support of so many people and we are really grateful to BEC and everyone else who has helped us to reach this point. 

“Now people have visited the site the true scale and potential of what could be achieved here is starting to dawn. 

“Good Lives has the potential to make a positive impact in so many ways for people who are struggling right across our community.

“Taking part in the activity of preparing the site, cultivating the land, planting, tending to the crops and harvesting the produce provides therapeutic support for those who need it.

“It will help people develop their skills and boost their self-confidence and self-worth, as well as providing exercise in the outdoor environment.

“There’s the feeling of being valued which comes from taking part in a community project like this which brings its own benefits to individuals involved

“It’s also providing healthy fresh food for those who need it, helping the health and well-being of those who are really struggling to afford the basics in life.

“We will be using our kitchen at our base in Cleator Moor to help people develop their cooking skills and give them the opportunity to make healthy meals which they can then re-create in their own homes. And it’s doing all this in an environmentally friendly way,” said Karen.

“There are so many people to thank,” she added. ” Jacobs and their team have donated time and materials to help the drainage of the land.

“Residents of Haverigg Prison have come and helped with the land, digging out pathways and beds to help prepare the site.

“BEC has provided temporary accommodation, West Coast Composting has donated soil, Careys has donated wood for the raised beds, and KAEFER is funding connecting water supplies to the site which is going to be a game changer for us when that work is done.

“The list of supporters is growing all the time and each and every one of them makes a big difference.”

Joe Martin of BEC, said: “It’s fantastic to see the way Good Lives is growing and the potential it has to be a lifechanging initiative across our community.

“BEC is delighted to have helped plant the initial seed by loaning the land, and we hope other businesses and organisations will continue to come forward to help maximise the potential of this exciting project. We are looking forward to seeing the garden grow and provide the support to those in our communities who need it most.”

The Good Lives Open Day was such a success that Home To Work is organising a monthly event, each with a different theme and with a local sponsor. The next one, which will be sponsored by engineering solutions specialist firm Forth, is due to take place on August 31, 10am-2pm. Transport will again be provided to the site free of charge.

Home To Work has won three recent awards: Best Community Initiative in The Golden Apples Awards, Community Enterprise of the Year in the Cumbria Social Enterprise Awards, and a High Sheriff of Cumbria Special Recognition Award for outstanding activity and contribution to the community of Cumbria.

To find out more about Good Lives, to get involved, or to register to attend an Open Day at the site, contact Karen Jones at Home to Work on karen.jones.hometowork@gmail.com 01946 814576; 07934 098034.