Charities we support
At Secret Gardens, we’re committed to sharing the love (of gardening) and helping to make gardening knowledge and skills accessible to all. Every time you book a garden visit or workshop through the Secret Gardens website, 10% of the booking fee goes directly to a garden-based charity nominated by your host.
Here are some of the inspiring charities we support:
Cultivate Christchurch
Cultivate Christchurch combines urban farming with youth development and community engagement. They transform urban areas into farms, providing employment and skills to young people, who also get the opportunity to work alongside community volunteers.
Cultivate operates on short-term lease sites where they restore soil health and then plant to grow healthy produce that is sold to hospitality and community customers.
“Our farms are the environment where the magic of youth and community development happens. Working together with our hands in the soil or processing the goods post harvest, you are sure to hear meaningful conversations and banter that is within what our young people call ‘their safe place’.”
Forrest Hill Community Garden
“We are a group of garden enthusiasts and hopeless romantics. We can’t bear the idea of a bunch of great people in Forrest Hill staying behind their fences and not knowing each other. Our dream to create a garden in Seine Road reserve which will be a place to learn to grow organic food, and a place to get to know our neighbours is becoming a reality.
Launched in February 2022, our shared vision is to create a beautiful space, a learning space, a place to get stuck in, and a place to experience what community can really be.”
Garden to Table
Garden to Table empowers tamariki to grow, harvest, prepare and share great food. The programme teaches children to nurture, share, and manaaki guests. It also builds awareness of individual and collective responsibility to manaaki te taiao – care for our environment. Supporting children’s health and wellbeing is central, and celebrating the preparing and sharing of great food fosters community connectedness.
“The theme of “kids doing everything” is a key component of the sessions; skills are not watered down for tamariki and they learn to operate in the kitchen and garden as they would at home, with careful observation and guidance.”
Grow Wanaka
Grow Wanaka is a Charitable Trust community garden project. We are working towards a circular economy through the collection and composting of organic matter from our urban centre, and then
using the compost to grow holistic produce at our community garden. Produce grown in the garden is gifted to volunteers and community charities to provide for those in need.
Grow Wanaka’s vision is to create a vibrant educational hub where community members can come to learn, connect and grow. Our aim is to inspire a local holistic food movement to enhance food resilience and food security while building community connections, and promoting community health and wellbeing.
