Teaching valuable skills, while supporting the environment

Leeds Wood Recycling are a local social enterprise diverting waste wood from landfill. They are a hub for volunteers to learn, work and receive support, working as part of a team whilst creating an environmental and social impact. They’ve received a number of grants from Leeds Community Foundation, including funding from Ideas that Change Lives.

 

Can you tell us a bit about Leeds Wood Recycling?

Leeds Wood Recycling is a social enterprise working to divert waste wood from going to landfill. We provide a wood collection service, run a reclaimed timber shop, run classes and offer volunteer training opportunities. We work to help ‘marginalised’ people from a range of backgrounds learn new skills, get back into work and make new social networks. All while helping the environment!

 

What did your Ideas that Change Lives grant enable you to do?

The Ideas that Change Lives grant enabled us to run a project called ‘The Skill Tree’ running 4,12 week courses teaching the basics of wood skills making products for our shop. We supported 24 adults from a range of backgrounds and abilities, assisting people with additional needs, poor mental health, brain injuries, refugees and people with autism to learn new skills for free!

 

Can you tell us about the impact of this activity on the people you work with?

We directly supported 24 people to participate in the Skill Tree, and gave an additional 8 of our existing volunteers experience as supporting team members, also participating in the course. Involving a total of 32 people. Some additional statistics:

• • • • 13 of the participants identified as having a sensory or physical impairment
      • 5 of the volunteer supports identified as having a sensory or physical impairment
      • 1 of the volunteer supports identified as having a learning difficulty
      • 22 of the participants identified as having mental health issues
      • 4 of the volunteer supports identified as having mental health issues
      • 7 of the participants identified as carers/people who look after somebody else
      • 1 of the volunteer supports identified as a carers/someone who looks after somebody else
      • 11 of the participants identified as having a learning difficulty

 

“I joined the Skill Tree at the back end of a tough period in my life. I’d had a couple of years struggling with my mental health and felt stuck in a rut and needed something completely different to break my current cycle. I’d done some basic DIY around the house before and used to upcycle stuff, but on the course I learned so much. I learned workshop etiquette, how to keep safe and use power tools and how to look at things one process at a time. I feel like I could make anything I wanted now. Beccy taught us how to start, plan and do things step at a time. Leeds Wood Recycling has been super supportive and I didn’t feel pressured or bad if I missed a session or was late. It made it easy to turn up, which inspired me. I feel now that I’ve done it here, I feel like I can do it anywhere.

The course really helped me to get back into socialising and I met people who I wouldn’t have otherwise met, from all walks of life. I loved the chats and sitting outside and having dinner, the long conversations and sharing stories. Learning and sharing about where everyone else is in their lives. I’m still friends with people now, and it’s why I still volunteer as I enjoy having new networks and contacts.

My best moment was finishing a dog bed that I made for my dog. It felt like a spark moment, a turning point where I thought, ‘I can do anything’.” – Emma.

Emma is now enrolling on a City and Guilds in Carpentry.

What are some of the biggest challenges you face as an organisation?

Our biggest challenges are space and premises, including outdoor yard space for pallets and vans. We have a small light industrial warehouse which we run all of our operations from. The space is really limited, and prevents us from being able to repurpose as much timber as we would like. The lack of space also limits the number of volunteers we can work with at any one time. If we had more floor space, we could push our impact much further.

How is your organisation preparing for the future, and what kind of funding is needed?

The project has sparked our passion for working with people who need additional support. We have secured funding for a support worker for the next 12 months, but after this funding is spent the position may have to end. We are developing a new strand of the business and are looking to buy a CNC machine so we can give an increased diverse range of meaningful volunteer opportunities to people from all backgrounds. We are hoping that this new income stream will build resilience, but of course there will be a period of transition while we get the new technology up and running. Future funding could be used for consultation, training, and technical support and maintaining the new machine. We are also looking for funding/ support to be able to grow or move our premises in the future, so we can take on more staff and boost our manufacturing, collections and retail capabilities.