Volunteer Cooking Assistant - Midlothian Garden

We are looking for support on the second Tuesday and last Thursday of the month, between 10am and 2pm.

Location

Midlothian Community Hospital Garden
70 Eskbank Road, Bonnyrigg EH22 3ND

Overview

At the Midlothian Community Hospital Garden we invite people to come together to garden and eat. By bringing people together in a safe space, we help to combat social isolation, make friends, enjoy a home-made nutritional meal while learning about volunteering and training opportunities in the garden. It directly aligns with the organizational goal of addressing homelessness by tackling underlying causes like social isolation and lack of support networks. By nurturing a sense of belonging and community, the garden helps mitigate factors contributing to homelessness while empowering participants with essential life skills and resilience. This is a proactive approach to addressing the root causes and consequences of homelessness.

What are the aims and expectations of the role?

Love cooking? We’re looking for volunteers to help support the Volunteer Head Cook to prepare and make community meals in the gardens using our outdoor kitchen. Meals are for around 25 people from the volunteer team and wider community.

You’ll work as part of a team to make soups and meals using ingredients from the garden and the FareShare Larder as well as local purchases.

On arriving at your volunteering session, you will work with a team to set up the outdoor kitchen by cleaning it down and bringing all the necessary equipment into the space. Then you will take guidance from the lead cook to prepare and cook the meal. After enjoying the meal with the rest of the team, you will work together to wash dishes, wash down the kitchen and clear away all of the equipment. Any leftovers are divided up for  community members to take home.