The Green Team
Our charity is based in Goole and was established in 1998. We provide volunteering opportunities - offering training in both gardening and horticulture. We are able to offer supported training and experiences that move the people with whom we work, closer to achieving their aspirations, whatever they may be. For some this is moving into employment. Locally, we provide garden mainte
nance, we have a mini charity garden centre and a community café, both in West Park, Goole. We have a team of volunteers who help us to provide our local, community service and they give a phenomenal amount of time; in fact on average over 10,000 hours per year. Green Team volunteers are from a wide cross section of the community and come from a diverse range of backgrounds but everyone has something valuable to offer. Some of our volunteers have health issues both physical and mental, literacy or isolation issues, learning disabilities or difficulties, some are unemployed, some lack confidence. We have people who are retired, long-term unemployed, NEETS, ex-offenders and some recovering from drug and alcohol addictions. Volunteers are often referred to us from various local organisations knowing that we offer training, support, guidance and structure in a positive and nurturing environment. Last year we worked with / supported / developed 83 people. We strive to make a difference to these people’s lives; give them a purpose, increase their skills and confidence and help them to move along on their journey in life. Everyone with whom we work with are at different stages of their life; some may not have had the best start in life or it may be that life, as life does, has thrown them a curve ball and sent them off course. We give people an opportunity; another chance. Charity Garden Maintenance Service
With our team of volunteers we are able to provide an all year round, low-cost gardening service for those who cannot manage their own gardens; namely the elderly and people with disabilities living in Goole and the surrounding areas. We currently have over 120 regular customers. Volunteers have the opportunity to take on a variety of tasks including mowing lawns, strimming, weeding, hedge cutting, pruning and planting up. There is a regular lawn mowing service from spring through to autumn and all green waste is removed by us and recycled. We are literally a life line for many and our customers look forward to our visits, often making cups of tea for our team, accompanied by biscuits or homemade cake! The very nature of who we work with and our criteria for accessing our service means that for many of our elderly or disabled customers they can’t get out very much and are quite isolated and lonely. And then we have the added bonus of our volunteers benefitting from our service; some struggle with even the most basic skills such as social skills and interactions. They benefit from a sense of giving back and engaging with the customers makes them feel valued and brings about an increased sense of achievement and self-worth. The Green Team Community Garden Centre
In 2016 we launched a new group at our site at West Park, Goole – our ‘Table Top Gardening Group,’ which has gone from strength to strength. It has expanded considerably and now operates as an all year round, mini garden centre and has a team of dedicated volunteers who grow plants in our polytunnels and sell them to the public twice a week to raise funds for our charity. We sell hanging baskets, bedding plants and containers which has allowed us to be able to teach our volunteers new skills not just in horticulture but in customer service, cash handling and retail. This environment has enabled us to be able to offer a new area of opportunity for people to become involved in, or for local services to be able to signpost or refer their customers / clients / service users to. It is a gentle volunteering opportunity that is extremely flexible time wise and being sited within the park environment, those involved there feel that it is a real sanctuary for calm and well-being. Our Journey To Employment Project
Our ‘Journey to Employment’ project, launched in autumn 2017, was designed to train and prepare individuals (mostly long-term unemployed) for the job market. Joining the organisation either as volunteers or as work placement candidates, individuals initially learn basic employability skills such as time keeping, team work and commitment, developing self-esteem and confidence by interaction with not only other team members but with our gardening beneficiaries. The successes that have been achieved over the last 18 months have inspired the charity to expand its offer to volunteers seeking employment. The basis of this development is that a major negative appearing on CV’s and application forms is the length of time in unemployment. So, following a period of volunteering and training with The Green Team charity, individuals have the opportunity to apply for short term, three months, paid employment with our Community Interest Company – The Green Team Works C.I.C. which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the charity and provides a commercial garden and grounds maintenance service. The commercial revenues that are generated are used to fund wages and any remaining profits are gifted back to the charity to help us to continue the work of our charitable community gardening service. These employment packages are not a ‘rite of passage’ and each individual has to prove their commitment and desire to want to move into employment and to treat this period of employment as the catalyst to gaining work elsewhere. West Park Community Café
We had another expansion to our organisation in the spring of 2019, when we took over the management of West Park café in Goole; allowing us to increase our volunteering, training and employment opportunities in the community within a brand new learning environment of a café setting. Our provision improves or teaches new skills through day to day, in house, practical training which includes taking orders - improving literacy skills, customer service; including how to communicate with people appropriately, non-accredited, basic food handling, health and safety, use of the coffee machine, counter work including serving customers, waitressing, till work and money handling - which improves numeracy skills, cleaning, washing pots, hospitality and day to day problem solving. Corporate Social Responsibility
Many employers engage in Corporate Social Responsibility programmes which enable their staff to volunteer either individually or in a group. There are many benefits for the individual, the employer and the wider community. If you are an employer and would like more information on how your employees can get involved, please contact us. The Next Phase
Due to our considerable growth, we have just relocated our office to the West Park site, enabling the whole of our organisation to operate from one site. We have also just had plans passed for the development of the site which is now underway. This development involves expanding the footprint of the existing compound which will allow us to increase the retail space of our garden centre, increase the days we open the garden centre to the public from our current 2 days a week, increase our volunteer opportunities and increase park activity and engagement. Supporting Our Work
Thank you sincerely for taking the time to read about our organisation. We think it is very special and quite unique and we hope that you gained a sense of that as you read through; we see the differences that it is making to so many people and we can also see its potential to reach even more people. To achieve this, we need additional volunteers and we would welcome you to enquire with us if this is somewhere you feel that you could help; especially if you have life experience that you can share with others. This organisation has been serving the community of Goole and surrounding areas for over 20 years; it is so important to so many people and we are striving to ensure that it will still be here within this community (and hopefully many more communities if we can take this further afield!) in another 20 years. Over the past few years we have seen a considerable reduction in funding available, more charities being set up and looking for funding and it has become ever harder to attract. We are striving to not only continue our valuable work but to develop and grow and respond to the changing need of the locality and the people in it. We need help; in whatever way that you can help, on whatever scale, please get in touch; speak to us; visit. We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you. Donations always welcome.
