Serving the Community in Galashiels
People carrying out unpaid work as part of community sentences in Galashiels in the Borders have helped local families receive fresh vegetables.
Community justice services run a greenhouse project in the town where people completing unpaid work maintain the site and help grow produce for the community.
Gemma Kerr, Senior Social Worker for Scottish Borders Council, said: “People who have broken the law get to make a positive contribution to their community and also learn new skills that could help them find work.
“The greenhouse project supplies produce regularly to various groups including Action for Children, Cafe ReCharge, the local recovery community, nurseries and care homes.”
This is one of a number of projects across the Borders that have benefitted from people being supervised to carry out unpaid work as part of a community payback order (CPO).
Across Scotland, more than 12.5 million hours of supervised unpaid work have been completed since 2011, helping to improve local areas.
Kimberley Beaton, programme lead for Action for Children, said: “Our service is very grateful for all the fresh produce we access on behalf of families to then distribute out to those in need.
“Families we’re helping are often low-income or living in poverty and requiring food parcels. They’ve been very appreciative of fresh vegetables from the greenhouse project as often food parcels only contain tinned foods.
“As part of the project they’ve really enjoyed growing their own tomato plants – a lovely activity for parents and children to do together during school holidays.
“We’ve had lovely feedback from families such as a young person talking about the delicious dinner his mum made with the vegetables and herbs we’d dropped off which he’d helped her to prepare.”
Amy Wight director and co-founder of Cafe ReCharge, said:
The produce we receive from the greenhouse project is hugely valuable to Cafe ReCharge. We operate a ‘Pay What You Can’ cafe and are able to use the fresh produce in the lunches we serve.
“Where this is a large amount of a particular vegetable we can use in chutneys and preserves, giving our kitchen volunteers valuable experience of chopping and preparing food in large quantities.
“We are also able to distribute the vegetables, especially salad items, to the local community. Produce is available in our community fridge and cupboard allowing those on lower incomes to access delicious, seasonal and local produce without the financial barrier.”
