Every two weeks or so a bunch of Gympie Community Garden members come to the garden for a short time to clean and de-cap bottles for recycling. This is an extremely valuable fundraiser for our community garden; it helps pay for our garden to come to fruition.
The beautiful people who come are incredibly generous with their time and smiles, and genuinely care about helping our community garden grow. We always have fun hurling bottles into bags and playing hit and miss!
As with many not-for-profits we rely on people who care and want to give back to the community in different ways.
So why do our people give their time when it doesn’t pay in dollars?
Because volunteering gives us a shared vision and sense of purpose. We have an idea about what we want the future to look like. Especially in our uncertain times…
People who volunteer are known to be physically, mentally and spiritually healthier; the benefits of being out there and getting dirty are clear. According to research, people who have volunteered regularly in their lifetime live longer and are also mentally fitter. Better than just watching garden shows on TV because you are actually getting dirty and doing it!
You can gain new skills and heaps of sometimes crazy sounding, but also helpful, skills that are shared between volunteers at morning tea and in the community garden patch. Volunteering always connects you to your community and different people in it. Meeting new people and making great friends is a definite.
Plus, helping in a project teaches you patience (plants may grow, and they may not!), kindness (we are all in this project together, whatever happens), and resilience (how will we cope in climate change scenarios?) – which are all much needed qualities right now.
So if you are interested in anything to do with gardens, or the Gympie community, and extending your network and knowledge, please drop in on the second Saturday of every month. We are a friendly bunch!
