Jenny loves helping her community and learning from others
Jenny
Cardiff, Wales
I’ve been helping out with Flourish, run by Cardiff Community Housing Association, for a year. I can give as much time as I want, but I love it, so I’m usually there four days a week. I help out with the Pantry – it’s a drop-in service available to everyone in our community so they can access food.
The Pantry is great, I use it too and some months it makes such a difference. It started as 50 to 60kg of food a week in one fridge and now we give out a tonne and have four fridges and a freezer!
We’ve done a clothes swap and a school uniform swap, if someone needs something – like an unexpected baby arrives - everyone mucks in to help. People come along for all sorts of reasons, some drop in for company – some people come every day, could be once a week, people come when they need and only take what they need.
We all share what we know too, so if someone knows how to cook a dish – say lasagne – they teach everyone else. One lady is 75 and has loads of recipes to share, she only came down because she saw us coming and going and wondered what was going on.
My advice to anyone thinking of starting something or getting involved is just go for it! Like-minded people will find each other.
"People say to me, why don’t you do something for yourself instead? But this IS for me, I don’t mind missing out on watching the telly!”
