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Hempen hosts and collaborates with Growing Solidarity as part of our community outreach work. Inspired by the collaborative work of mutual aid groups, Growing Solidarity became our way of reaching out to the local community. Together we exchange skills, share knowledge, combat social isolation, and build resilience, with nature providing the foundations, tools and backdrop.
Reading Refugee Support Group
In partnership with Reading Refugee Support Group and Reading City of Sanctuary, we work with people through weekly sessions on our farm and in local neighbourhoods.
Reading City of Sanctuary
Lorraine Briffitt, Chair of Reading City of Sanctuary, said ‘It’s amazing to see the energy they’ve poured into becoming recognised as a Garden of Sanctuary. They are really do such much to welcome people of sanctuary backgrounds.’
Now more than ever, we need to build solidarity!
Donate to Growing Solidarity! We run weekly sessions supporting people seeking sanctuary to get out of the city and connect to community and nature. Your money will cover the costs of travel, warm drinks and healthy snacks! Thank you!
A short film featuring Growing Solidarity participants over the summer months of 2021. Together exploring a healthy and participatory relationship with food, which empowers those who are otherwise relying on unsecure ways of sourcing food, like foodbanks.
As hemp enthusiasts, you can probably tell that we’re keen on building connections to the natural world. With all the amazing things we can grow and forage, nature gives us many gifts and empowers us to provide for ourselves and our communities.
We stand within a wide network of organisations and collectives working to build alternatives to current systems. This network has grown organically and we hope it will continue to do so, building trust through experiencing and integrating other people’s perspectives and spreading the values of solidarity, resistance and resilience.
We are resisting the systems that don’t place the wellbeing of all its participants at the heart. Collectively, our small actions can lead to big changes. It is through these actions that we can build a better future for the generations who will come after us.
VOLUNTEER
If you like to dip your hands in the soil, take strolls in the woods, and chat with people from all walks of life, volunteering with us may be the thing for you! Email volunteering@hempen.co.uk to find out more and apply. We host other volunteering opportunities, find out more here.
CARPOOL
Many of the people we work with face barriers when accessing our site. You can help improve accessibility by joining our community driver carpool! More information here.
We work in collaboration with The Natural Resilience Project to deliver an innovative approach to working therapeutically with women with irregular migrant status, developing personal resilience by connecting to nature and community. We work with nature and each other to expand our awareness – paying close attention to what is happening around us, inside us and between us.
We have worked with the Landworkers’ Alliance, to experiment with developing a replicable and scalable model that empowers people who are on a low-income, food insecure and reliant on food-banks to grow, cook with, eat and share nutritious food at home or at the farm. This is part of a nationwide initiative, the Community Resilience Project.
We want to say a huge THANK YOU to The National Lottery Local Community Fund for financially supporting the Growing Solidarity project.
