We're still collecting donations
On the 4th August 2023 we'd raised £1,206 with 57 supporters in 56 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.
Community Gardens and Orchards
by Matthew Knight in Reading, England, United Kingdom
Total raised £3,156
raised so far+ est. £35.00
90
supportersWe intend to help communities grow their own fruit and produce to help alleviate food poverty whilst helping the environment too.
by Matthew Knight in Reading, England, United Kingdom
BA Better World Community Fund is providing live match funding
How it started
In March 2020 three friends (Ryan, James and Matt) decided to follow their dream of making fresh organic fruit freely available to everyone. The vision was to provide food to people and wildlife through the planting of fruit trees and bushes in local communities. There was also the added benefit that the trees would help tackle climate change through the sequestration of carbon dioxide.
The impact of the pandemic
As community projects were not possible during the covid-19 pandemic, the trio turned their focus to growing organic fruit and veg for local food banks. With a small but dedicated team of volunteers, Freely Fruity grew over 2.5 tonnes of organic produce which was then distributed amongst local food banks.
Community Projects
As restrictions started to ease, the we were able to venture out into communities to complete a variety of projects including: building community growing spaces, planting community orchards, and delivering fun and educational planting activities to children. Check out some of these amazing projects below:
Our first community growing space was built at Emmanuel Church in Woodley. Local residents are invited to join in growing activities at this site and the food grown is distributed via food charity, Share Woodley, also run from the church. It doesn't get fresher than that!
Hundreds of strawberry plants were distributed free of charge to visitors at the Wokingham Town Council's Heritage Day event.
Freely Fruity co-founder, Matt Knight, visited The Colleton Primary School in Twyford last year to plant a mini-orchard with the children.
And those are just a few examples of completed projects - you can read about all of our projects projects on Freely Fruity's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/freelyfruityuk
The Super Orchard!
In March this year, we planted 680 fruit trees on a plot of land in Barkham. These trees will be used to propagate further fruit tree saplings, enabling us to become self-sufficient in fruit tree production so that we can continue to plant fruit trees into local communities long into the future.
Once mature, these 680 trees will sequester approximately 15,000kg of carbon dioxide every year, and will produce over 136,000kg of organic fruit!
Looking to the future
We receive new requests for support every day and we'd love to be able to say yes to every single request. With the propagation orchard now established, we have big plans for the future. We will continue to work with schools, churches and community groups to construct community growing spaces, plant orchards and inspire the younger generation to tackle climate change head on.
Please consider supporting us today. Thank you!
Select a reward
This project offers rewards in return for your donation.
£25 or more
Sponsor a fruit tree
For every £25 pledged we are able to plant a fruit tree in a public place. This money pays for the tree, the stake, the guard and mulch.
£50 or more
Sponsor a tree in the super orchard
You will be helping to continue our tree planting legacy. Your donation will help pay for propagation equipment and maintenance of a tree in our super orchard nursery. These trees literally help provide cuttings for future tree projects.
Your name will be added to our sponsor list