We have been in Edinburgh visiting the inspiring Cyrenian's charity – a family of projects focused around food and supporting homeless and vulnerable people across the city.
Four members of the Kindling team joined up with Liverpool Food Alliance to journey to Edinburgh for a two day visit organised by Nina Dale of Making Local Food Work.
The combination of farm, supported community, sheltered accommodation, community gardens and Good Food waste project (via a Fareshare franchise) offered a fantastic opportunity for us to learn more about working with volunteers.
Cyrenian runs a 9 acre organic farm just outside Edinburgh with chickens, extensive orchards, polytunnel greenhouses and a newly cultivated field to be planted with soft fruit, garlic etc. They engage a large number of volunteers and offer training. The farm is financially resilient and is increasingly focused on food production and generating income through sales. They sell their own chutneys and jams along with eggs, fruit and veg via a farmers market and direct to office staff at local businesses.
Cyrenian's Fareshare project was particularly impressive. Every week 9 tonnes of donated food is delivered to forty hostels and homeless projects across the city, with a focus on good, healthy food - 60% is fruit & veg. The project is dependant on volunteers, and engages and supports a large range of people who are homeless, have special needs or are long-term unemployed.
Key areas of interest for the visit included:
- To explore how the Cyrenian’s manage and retain their volunteers.
- What systems and mechanisms are in place for dealing with risk issues such as seasonality and short notice cancellation in a commercial food growing setting.
- Explore how to scale up with voluntary labour. How do the Cyrenians cope with labour issues in busy periods such as harvest time and when there is a lack of skilled labour due to illness and holiday cover?
- Creating and increasing opportunities for individuals to become practically involved and experienced in sustainable and commercial food systems.
We came away with a huge number of ideas about how to improve Kindling's volunteer program, and our relationship with the wonderful Liverpool Food Alliance was strengthened.
We owe a big thank you to Nina Dale and Making Local Food Work for organising and funding the visit: www.makinglocalfoodwork.org.uk
For more information about the Edinburgh Cyrenains please visit: www.cyrenians.org.uk/