With community gardens, they give purpose to the everyday lives of the homeless

By: Trademagazin Date: 2023. 06. 21. 10:35

Budapest Bike Maffia’s “Gardens” project provides a daily occupation and purpose for the homeless. The organization creates vegetable gardens in the gardens of homeless shelters in the capital, which the residents cultivate, and in return they receive healthy and nutritious staple foods.

The purpose of the project – in addition to giving meaning to everyday life – is to show that abundantly productive gardens can be created with minimal financial investment. The initiative, which has been running since 2018, is also supported this summer by DélKerTÉSZ, which brings together 500 vegetable producers in Szentes. The cooperative contributes to the season with 1,500 TV pepper, 200 tomato and 100 cabbage seedlings.

In 2018, with the involvement of volunteer professionals, the Budapest Bike Maffia set up experimental vegetable gardens in the gardens of four homeless shelters to provide the residents with a goal and a daily task. The gardens were typically installed in homeless shelters on the outskirts of the city, the project is currently running in the 13th and 9th districts, as well as in a home in Csepel, but the organization has so far assisted in the implementation of a total of 10 gardens throughout Budapest. The volunteer team dealing with BBM Gardens consists of 10-15 people, who are joined from time to time by carpenters and masons to help with more specialized work.