GIY and Energia are calling on communities across Ireland to take part in Energia Get Ireland Growing Day on Saturday, July 2.
Get Ireland Growing Day is part of the Energia Get Ireland Growing initiative, in partnership with GIY. This year the initiative is aiming to sow the seed of community food growing nationwide by encouraging and supporting as many individuals and groups as possible to get together for community food growing projects of all shapes and sizes.
Last month the initiative announced the giveaway of 300 community growing starter kits across Ireland, worth a total of €42,500. Using these kits, communities are encouraged to get together to become more sustainable and connected through growing food together.
For those who missed out on the kits, there are still great prizes to be won for any community group hosting a local gathering on Get Ireland Growing Day, with free resources available at getirelandgrowing.ie or by downloading the GIY app.
“Energia Get Ireland Growing Day is a day to celebrate the growing going on in your community," said Michael Kelly, founder of GIY. "It’s a day to gather and share the joy of growing and caring for your shared place and enjoy nature.
"We are encouraging seed exchanges, doing a pollinator walk, a forage with friends, getting together to tackle the ‘big job’ in the garden, sharing some of the food you have grown, or simply a cup of tea to get to know your own food growing community better. It is a chance to get together and realise the power of communal vision and effort.”
Lorna Danaher, sponsorship manager for Energia, added: "We’re so excited to have our second Energia Get Ireland Growing Day. The success of last year laid an amazing foundation for us to be able to further engage and build growing communities. We look forward to seeing groups come together and complete the Energia Get Ireland Growing challenges on the app.
Get Ireland Growing Day participants can be in with a chance of winning a range of prizes by posting a picture of their community growing projects on any social media channel and tagging @EnergiaGIG while also using the hashtag #GetIrelandGrowing.
People can also nominate someone going above and beyond to support others to grow and be named their province’s Get Ireland Growing Community Hero. Previous winners have included those leading a community garden project, bringing food growing into schools, or simply motivating their neighbours to give growing a go.
The 2022 prize categories and prizes include a Community Hero, with one hero awarded per province, and the winners awarded a GIY annual subscription. The Best Energia Get Ireland Growing Day is an award for the most impressive gathering hosted on the day, with a prize of a GIY voucher worth €500. Finally, the Best Transformation is up for grabs for a group who have transformed a space, with a €1,000 cash prize.
Get Ireland Growing winners will be announced on Saturday, July 16.
Energia Get Ireland Growing was first launched by Energia in partnership with GIY in 2016 to promote community food growing projects nationwide. For further details see www.getirelandgrowing.ie
