Issue 9 2024, Acquisition International | 15 it its mission to ensure that Lincoln’s people never have to. Wonderful in every way, this award-winning organisation embodies what it means to support people in socialising, learning, and thriving. It has been a busy start to 2024 with Green Synergy’s successful plant sales growing over 1,000 plants by our volunteers and participants to sell. It is excited for its big Family Fun Day – for families, children, and young people – where everyone can enjoy lots of activities on Hillside Garden. It also has two other large events: the Global Harvest Celebration on October 23rd, 2024, and Carols on the Garden on December 11th where the charity will welcome its local communities to the garden. Ali Talbot from Green Synergy enthuses, “We have a full year of delivery ahead of us with our mental health and wellbeing projects being delivered including Green Shoots of Wellness, Layers of Green, Green WRAP and our Better Together programmes. Our children and young people’s Tower Power project aims to reach over 200 children and young people today with a range of after school and school holiday programmes. The programmes enable children and young people to come together, play, have fun and connect with green spaces and nature.” Ali continues, “The ways in which our charity services weave individual support into our community activities enables people to connect, reduce their isolation, feel less alone, have fun, find enjoyment in our gardens, grow, and often change their lives.” Empowerment is what Green Synergy strives to encourage, and we’re certain it will continue inspiring individuals to find a new purpose through gardening and horticulture. Contact: Ali Talbot Company: Green Synergy Web Address: https://greensynergy.org.uk/ Best Gardening & Horticulture Charity 2024 - East Midlands Established in response to the dire need for support among Lincolnshire’s most under-served communities, Green Synergy is an outstanding gardening and horticulture charity that seeks to uplift those who are often overlooked. Open to all ages and abilities, the organisation encourages individuals to partake in an activity that, for centuries, has given people the chance to witness just how far tender love and care can go. As a physical representation of growth, gardening has been proven to settle the mind and work the body, enabling participants to simultaneously enhance their physical and mental wellbeing. After all, what could be more empowering than watching the fruits of your labour flourish alongside you yourself? Currently managing two community gardens in Lincoln – namely Hillside Garden and Ellie’s Memorial Garden – Green Synergy brings together all types of individuals who are in desperate need of some compassion and encouragement. Anybody who may have suffered with mental and physical issues before will echo the sentiment that getting out and doing something can sometimes be the hardest challenge one must face on their road to recovery. It’s for this very reason that Green Synergy created something unique – a place in which people could raise all types of plants as part of a community effort. Though not expected to form connections, attending gardeners are more likely to thrive when working alongside those struggling with similar issues. Since entering onto the scene, Green Synergy’s charitable efforts have overseen a myriad of accomplishments. From hosting its See How Our Garden Grows National Lottery Community Fund Reaching Communities project, to reaching 4602 people through its services, the organisation has certainly brought some much-needed light into the lives of those struggling with their mental health and wellbeing. Partnered with its warm spaces and coffee morning activities, in addition to its Knit and Natter programme, Green Synergy has managed to do much more than provide a space of positive healing through gardening. As of 2024, this cherished charity has also distributed 150 emergency warm packs, issued 60 community grocery memberships, delivered 57 hot lunch club meals, and delivered 31 warm spaces sessions and slow cooker workshops. To Green Synergy, support doesn’t end with gardening. It’s about so much more than maintaining community gardens – its work involves uniting those facing a common hardship, and representing the people who have found themselves battling seemingly impossible situations. Green Synergy gives these very people hope that there’s a better tomorrow on the horizon, and that they still have the opportunity to seek out the good in the world. Nobody deserves to suffer alone, and Green Synergy has made Gardening is a practise that has long since brought people together. Able to get the serotonin flowing and bring joy to the hearts of those struggling, it’s a wonderful outlet for anybody seeking a sense of community and togetherness. So, when the opportunity arose for a charity to branch into Lincoln’s gardening and horticulture scene, no organisation was more eager to embrace it than Green Synergy. Focused on supporting people in some of Lincolnshire’s most deprived communities, Green Synergy encourages mental and physical growth through the ever-beloved art of gardening. Green Synergy
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