Community Days
Where would we be without the many, many volunteers who come along to help out – often as part of Community Days run by various companies?
Of course while the work on the Day Centre has been uppermost in our minds, we can never lose sight of the fact that there are always so many other jobs to do here at The Farm. As construction work continues pace, elsewhere on The Farm there are always countless other jobs that need to be done – they can’t be ignored.
For example; maintenance work to be done on the buildings, the petting barn or the animal pens; improvements to the rapidly developing wetlands area; caring for the hundreds of plants and shrubs we have planted; the sensory garden needs attention and the vegetable patch needs constant care. The list is endless and some of it is a bit like painting the Forth Bridge – we get to the end of it and need to start again!
Let Justine, our Community Fundraiser, explain what community days are about:
“What a lot of companies do is look to engage their workforce more in the community, and coming to do volunteer work at somewhere like Calf Fallow Farm, is ideal. For
instance, every year twenty-five staff at Teesside University get to go out and enjoy themselves.”
“It’s a sort of ‘bonding-while-getting-away-from-the- day-to-day- drudgery’, type of thing. This year they decided against going paintballing and came to The Farm instead – they said they had a great time.”
Because the five-and-a-half acres at The Farm take some looking after, we’re keen to get involved with more businesses, organisations or groups who would like to help out. The deal is that they have to come up with their own money to buy the materials for whatever job they want to take on. Then, once the work is finished, they agree to come back from time to time throughout the year to maintain that area.
It’s all done during company time and with their blessing. So if you think you’d like to try some more hands-on community involvement why not join the likes of:
- Barclaycard
- Abbey
- Arco
- Royal Mail
- Teesside University
- Evening Gazette
If your company is interested in supporting Daisy Chain call Justine on 01642-531248