GIY Grow It Yourself: Helping people grow
As this month’s Changemaker, we chose GIY (Grow It Yourself), an award-winning Irish social enterprise dedicated to changing the way people think about and interact with food. Founded in Waterford in 2008 by Michael Kelly, GIY’s mission is simple: to encourage people to live healthier, happier and more sustainable lives by growing their own food. You may have seen some of his videos criticizing Irish supermarkets and fruit and vegetable brands for local sourcing and mislabelling.
Through education, advocacy and community-based action, GIY reconnects people with their food sources, sparking conversations about the most pressing challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss.
GIY promotes activities as its name suggests. empathy for food: A deeper understanding of the labor, resources, and care involved in food production. By encouraging people to grow even a small portion of what they eat, GIY inspires more conscious consumption, healthier eating habits, and a stronger environmental consciousness. This approach creates positive behavioral changes, such as increased consumption of fresh seasonal produce, reduced food waste, greater appreciation for local food systems, and stronger connections with nature and communities.
GIY delivers a wide range of programs and campaigns across Ireland that engage communities, schools and workplaces in practical food education. Its flagship initiative, GROW at School, provides garden-based learning opportunities for elementary school students, combining food cultivation with lessons on nutrition, sustainability, and well-being. The organization’s goal is to ensure that every child in Ireland has access to food education, developing lifelong skills and values that support individual and planetary health.
Looking to the future, GIY aims to inspire 100 million people around the world to grow, cook and eat their own food by 2030, and position Ireland as a leader in sustainable food education and civic engagement.
GIY shows that meaningful change doesn’t necessarily start with large-scale infrastructure or policy shifts, but can start in our gardens, schoolyards, and windowsills.
For more information about GIY, please visit our website. here Or follow our team Instagram.
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Source: Pynck – pynck.com
