Illawarra social enterprise Green Connect is calling on residents to support its urban farm by buying fresh fruit-and-veg boxes.

“We harvest the crops for the boxes on Tuesday morning and pack on Wednesday morning, so they’re less than 24 hours old," says Robert Servine, CEO of Green Connect Farm Ltd.

"When we deliver the boxes, some of the things in there were in the ground a couple of hours ago.

“It’s the freshest produce you’ll ever be able to get. It tastes better, it's healthier for you and you’re supporting a good cause. By buying from us, you’re not just getting healthy, fresh, local produce. You’re also supporting an organisation that is helping people.

Funds will go towards creating a new work-experience program at Green Connect's Warrawong farm, among other initiatives.

“Independent organisations need community support," Robert says. "We want less reliance on grants, and our boxes will help us become more sustainable in the long-term.”

Plans to grow the work experience program

For almost 15 years Green Connect has been giving refugees and disadvantaged young people a sense of purpose and the chance to improve their skills and learn about fresh food practices at its farm in Warrawong.

“We want to help them overcome those barriers, because they’re amazing people and they’re hard-working and they just need a little bit of a chance – and that’s one thing we can give,” Robert says.

With community support, Green Connect is planning to introduce an extended work-experience program. Robert wants to take the program from three weeks to a three-month  experience with pay for participants, including education and training. With help from Kiama Community College, Green Connect aims to offer a six-hour day: four hours of work on the farm and two hours of education, with a certificate awarded to participants at the end.

Public support for the farm's fresh food boxes will be key to the program's success.

“We have to survive, we need help financially, and then when we have that, we have the bones for the new program,” Robert says.

15 years of good works

Green Connect has been looking after people and planet since 2011 as a not-for-profit turned social enterprise. Last year, the farm provided 177 employment opportunities, kept 143 tonnes of waste out of landfill and grew and distributed 36,816kg of fair food. 

“Wollongong is a settlement area for refugees and, sadly, newly arrived refugees don’t have many opportunities. Only about six percent have employment after six months in Australia and after two years that only goes up to about 23 percent,” Robert says.

“We want to help them overcome those barriers, because they’re amazing people and they’re hard-working and they just need a little bit of a chance – and that’s one thing we can do.”

Green Connect also focuses on employing young people with multiple barriers to employment.

“Things like complex trauma, multi-generational poverty, things like that. They also have a lot of potential, but they need somebody who believes in them and gives them that opportunity and kind of helps them get that foot in the door.”

Rewards of being in nature 

Green Connect welcomes about 65 volunteers to the farm on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. This number could increase as social prescribing becomes more common.

“There’s a lot just to being in nature, ecotherapy," Robert says. 

"There’s a new thing that's happening – the Japanese have a term called Shinrin-yoku – forest bathing. Here, it’s a very beautiful green space – you’re surrounded by greenery and that has a calming effect on its own.

“Then you’re with people who are similar minded – you get to talk to them and spend time with them, there’s community. Growing the fair food and sustainable agriculture is kind of a bonus thing we do on the side.”

Dreaming of an urban farm of their own

For volunteers Andrea and Amanda, spending time in nature isn’t the only positive aspect of volunteering.

“I love learning permaculture – the dream is to one day have my own urban farm, I’m just trying to pick up as much knowledge and skills as I can,” Andrea says.

“It’s really rewarding to be surrounded by birds and wildlife, while also cultivating the land. You get to see your hard work pay off within a few weeks, and it builds confidence when you manage to grow something, and makes you want to come back.”

Amanda says volunteering at Green Connect is like an outdoor gym. “It’s really fun just to do some hard work where you’re doing something purposeful.

“The best part of it, I think it just being able to work every week with someone different – we get new conversations and everyone’s here to learn.”

Experience from across the globe 

Originally from Seattle, Robert will celebrate three years with Green Connect in August this year. He is excited to have recently negotiated another 10-year lease at the current site in Warrawong, under a licence agreement with the Department of Education.

“It was a long journey getting into fresh food and what I do here – I travelled the world for about 10 years, and then came back to Seattle,” he says.

After returning to his home town, Robert took part in a protest at a World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting. After taking a stand against a company Robert calls "truly evil", protesters were pepper-sprayed, shot with rubber bullets, and arrested in large numbers.

“It woke me up. I wasn’t naive after that. I really realised that a lot of the systems in the world are set up to protect the wealthy. I wanted to, in my own way, kind of fight against that,” he says.

“So I continued protesting for a little while, but realised it wasn't going to work long term for me, and I wanted to do something more local – cleaning up the area around me, doing good things.

“My ex-wife and I wanted to do something that was beneficial and not harmful. We had the opportunity to start our own farm, a little one called Good Karma Farm, growing organic vegetables.”

While running the farm and studying psychology at The Evergreen State College, Robert began working with a program called Seattle Youth Garden Works, hiring homeless youth to work in organic farming.

“It was an absolutely amazing, life-transforming program that I did for nearly four years – and then we moved back here to Australia,” Robert says.

Challenge to find fulfilling work 

In Australia, Robert struggled to find work that brought people and planet together.

“There was nothing similar that I could find, so I ended up working in youth homelessness and out-of-home care with asylum seekers, and child protection – that kind of stuff. Always social work but without the planet aspect of it,” Robert says.

“I was missing that balance of working for people and planet. I care about both, for me it’s very important personally. But we can't survive without nature. That’s how we grow our food. Everything is dependent on nature.

“Recently there was a banana shortage because of flooding in Queensland. We can't separate nature from people, we’re always going to be impacted by it.

“On the other hand, people can't care about nature if they're not in a place where they have free space to think. If people are completely focused on survival, then the environment doesn't mean much to them.”

Green Connect recently split from Community Resources, a nationwide social enterprise that is now focused on diverting waste from landfill and creating large-scale employment opportunities. 

“Now we can really focus on our strategy and what we want to accomplish,” Robert says.

For more information, visit Green Connect’s website