A group of volunteers from the Customer Marketing Team at The Wrigley Company transformed the garden of a community organisation in Keyham during April. The team from Wrigley designed and planted a Japanese-themed garden in liaison with the gardening group at Community Health in Keyham (CHIK).
A day was spent preparing the site whilst, in tandem, the team sourced donations from local businesses. Homebase, Plymouth Garden Centre and Wrigley came up trumps making generous donations which the Wrigley and CHIK team planted to complete their design. The new garden contains quiet seating areas, a water feature, Japanese ornaments and oriental plantings.
CHIK runs a young people's drop-in centre, parents' group, confidential counselling service, and works to promote mental health and well-being. CHIK has an average of 50 people accessing the project but numbers increase when funding is available.
Mandy Reynolds at CHIK said: "Everyone accessing the project benefits from the work Wrigley's carried out with our gardening group members. The garden provides a beautiful focal point for everyone coming into the project and many people are spending more time outside and are enjoying the garden. Many project users suffer from stress, anxiety or depression and the garden has had a positive effect on their mental health by providing a calming/tranquil space for people to sit and take 'time out' to relax."
The project was part of a Business in the Community challenge in association with employee volunteering arm Plymouth Cares. Edwin Sudds, Wrigley team leader, said his colleagues "felt passionately" about the project. He said: "CHIK provides support for a large cross section of people and is a service we felt really proud to assist."
Katie Edmondson, from Plymouth Cares, said: "The Wrigley Company is always keen to give something back to the community. Plymouth Cares' challenges are a good way to interact with colleagues outside the workplace, whilst team-building and providing support to those who need it."
