Wyld Work Projects needs help to grow

THE team behind Wyld Work Projects, a grassroots initiative aimed at reducing social isolation and building active citizenship through nature-based programs, has launched a fundraiser to purchase a vehicle to help expand the project’s impact.

Spread across eight project sites, chief among Wyld Work Projects’ goals is improving food security in the community by providing opportunities for people to learn how to grow their own food and access fresh produce.

At the same time, the project supports those in need through the Geelong Food Assistance network, helping to connect locally grown produce with those who need it most through organisations such as Lotus Kitchen, The Outpost and Lazarus Community Centre.

Therapeutic horticulturalist and Wyld Work Projects founder Rebecca Taylor said the grassroots initiative had long needed a vehicle to help its team travel between, and transfer plants, produce and materials to, its sites.

Presently, the team is scraping by using Uber services and “the backs of mums’ cars”, while demand for their services continues to increase across the region.

Ms Taylor said a new vehicle would create a “practical community resource” for everyone.

“My initial motivation is very much about Wyld Work Projects, ’cause that’s my baby, but it’s recognising, too, its value for the rest of us as well,” she said.

“It’s about meeting demand and just increasing our reach.

“Every step of the way, of everything that we do, there is an exchange of knowledge, there’s an exchange of resources.

“And of course, being able to get more plants around means I can support more gardens.”

One of Wyld Work Projects’ key initiatives is a community farm on the Bellarine – located on Scotchmans Road at the former Drysdale Cheeses site – which has quickly become a hub for likeminded individuals to gather, share resources and build their own community-focused projects and programs.

As a result, the purchase of a new vehicle is poised to have a positive ripple effect that extends well beyond Ms Taylor’s own program offering.

With the support of the community, as well as Blood Toyota in South Geelong that has offered Wyld Work Projects “an incredible price”, the team has already managed to put down a $2,000 deposit on the new vehicle.

This leaves just under $25,000 to raise; a mammoth task for Wyld Work Projects’ small and busy team.

“At the end of the day, we are a grassroots organisation,” Ms Taylor said.

“We’re just like everybody else and we’re showing what community can do – what can happen when we come together, and we work together.

“There is no big funding body. We are just individuals like every other individual out there…and we’re just asking for more individuals to come and join us and contribute what they can and help us actually help more [people] in the community.”

To contribute to the fundraiser, head to gofund.me/fdd2c94f or to make a direct deposit, contact Wyld Work Projects via Facebook or Instagram.

For more information about the wide-ranging nature-based programs Wyld Work Projects has on offer, head to wyldworkprojects.com.au