Farrans take part in volunteer day at Ravine NI

This week a team of volunteers from Farrans visited Ravine NI for a day of giving back to our local community.

To date, Farrans has supported Ravine by providing over 100 hours of hands-on on volunteering, a donation of an old shipping container to scale their business providing them with a shop front to sell their veg and flowers from, 2 days of groundwork and 40 tonnes of aggregate.

Ravine is a conservation project where young people with mental health challenges can gain work experience with specialists in horticulture, helping to promote and conserve wildlife and natural habitats on the site.

It hosts two social enterprises including the Market Garden, where crops and plants grown on site are sold to local communities and businesses.

Activities on the day included planting bulbs in the outdoor vegetable plots, working in the polytunnel and helping reconstruct pathways around the nature reserve.

The two leaders, Kenzie and Matthew, updated the Farrans volunteers on Ravine’s plans for future growth. The site cabin which Farrans donated and painted last year will soon have a living wall.

Claire McGarrity, Assistant Submission Manager at Farrans, said: “It was a lovely chance to get away from the desk and out into the fresh air at Ravine. The organisation is led by passionate, committed people and the site’s potential to make a positive impact shines through as soon as you arrive. I spoke to one of the young people who attends for a few hours every week and it was clear to see that he got a lot from the natural surroundings. For me, it was a pleasure to spend the day in a location that is a real hidden gem in Belfast, doing something that feels worthwhile. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who has the chance to volunteer.”