INTRODUCTION: Welcome to the Something to Amat Podcast, a podcast dedicated to purposeful living. During the summer of 2022, Carly Bird turned her garden into an allotment to ensure she and her family had enough food to eat as the cost of living crisis deepened. Remarkably, despite having multiple sclerosis and lupus, Carly also felt compelled to give food to people in need in Harlow. Today, Carly is speaking with Neil about how a decision to give away fruit and vegetables became a meal on me with love, offering food, a respite from loneliness, and a way to alleviate the impact of COVID.
HOST: Hello, Carly. Welcome to the Something to Amat Podcast. Given that we're all about purpose and sharing stories about people who have found theirs, we are more than delighted to have you on the show. Thank you. But with your permission, I'd like to start off not discussing immediately a meal on me, but more about who you are, and perhaps more importantly who you were before June of last year.
BURD: Yeah. I was in a bad position because I have multiple sclerosis and lupus. I have three boys that I raise alone, and I was in a position where I can't change anything. I knew the cost of living was coming and I panicked because the winter before we didn't have heating, because we couldn't afford it. We have to live on a lower of what ... people don't understand this part. You don't understand. When you're on benefits, you are living lower than what you get. So you're never in a positive, you're always in a negative, you cannot get any credit because you can't pay it back. Literally, your life is pretty screwed. So you're in a position, you can't do anything about it. If I approach you and said I'd love to work with you, but I have three major illnesses. I have to get a London to have chemotherapy treatment. I have time off because my body decides just to collapse and I can't do anything about it. You're not one of going to employ me. I'm stuck in a position and it doesn't matter if I can do things. Yeah, I can do certain things, but it doesn't always last long because it is multiple sclerosis and it does take over whenever it decides to. So I'm in a position and now I'm thinking, what are we going to do? We went without heating. So what are we going to go without this year? It's going to have to be food, isn't it? Or electric? What can we do? So, yeah, I was just stuck in the position and panicking and I thought, was there just panicking for me? Is panicking for everyone I know who's in the same position? I have a lady who's waiting in a double lung transplant. She can't go to the food bank, so what's she going to do? She's on the lower than what it costs to survive. She's already going without the food bank's open, but she can't get to it because she's open to infection. So what's she going to do? And there's people like that that I worry about. People and our sexa, we tend to be very shy about being on benefits. We're not one to go, we get better this. I do a fantastic job. No, we've all had to rain on society already. So when you're faced with the fact you're raising your kids alone, you've got three major real nices. I've already come back from death once. I've been down that road. I didn't like it and come back. Yeah, trust me, I ran back. And what am I supposed to do? I'm stuck. So the only other option was, right, that's it. The garden's going to get it. And we literally, me and my kids just rip the garden up and thought, we're going to try and plant as much as we can to help us, obviously, to get through. But whatever we've got left, we can then give to these people that can't get to the food bank, can't get out. People that are on a soda press that won't leave their house. When you're already down because you're in any illness, you've got no money, you've got nothing, basically. You've got nothing. That's going to make you feel even worse. So these people are more depressed than people realise. They're fighting for their life, but also trying to fight to get money together to survive. And yeah, it was so destroying. I'm a bit of an empath. I do like take on emotions and a bit of a sponge.
HOST: I'm beginning to already pick that up. Yeah. It's a, I think our listeners and will go along with me and think that MS, Lupus, single parent, they're not great launch pads to think, I'll now do my bit for the community. No, I know. But also, I think from stalking your Instagram a little bit, you were very big into fishing at some stage.
BURD: I love fishing. Have you been fishing since June of last year? Yeah, I've been fishing. I obviously get help because the equipment and the gear is so heavy, I can't get rid. So yeah, I'm lucky. I stand there and the whole lot gets set up for me. But that's important to the fishing.
HOST: As well as everything else you've got going on, you're still making time for the fishing.
BURD: That's my bit of time where I take on all the messages people send me and it's from all over the country and they are telling me their whole life story. So being an empath, I take all that on and I'm taking on people's worries and problems. So I have to fish. It's my time, my time.
HOST: So your life wasn't straightforward before a meal on me, was it?
BURD: No, not at all.
HOST: So perhaps now then you could explain a little bit about a meal on me and how it came about. I know you've done a little bit of that, but how it's got to where you are now then.
BURD: But to that point where I thought, I was just so desperate, what am I going to do? I literally, I've got nothing else to give. What am I going to do? And I know no one else is going to help me. It's just me as a single parent. So me and the kids were like, right, let's rip the garden up. So literally we rip the garden up. We made planters out of old wood because we didn't have money to buy wood. So we used everything that we could to recycle. And yeah, the garden took over like a jungle and was absolutely brilliant. It did feed 500 odd people. We've obviously added donations into it. But I've replanted that garden three times last year. Really? Three times last summer because we had such a long summer. I made the most of it. So I was planting up to November.
HOST: Wow. I was going to ask you this question later, but I think it's more appropriate now is that my colleague Pete is very much green fingered. He has some unorthodox methods and views, but he's very much a gardener. So would you say you were a gardener and you knew about vegetables then? Or would you say you've learned enough to call yourself a gardener now or you're still learning?
BURD: No, I'd love to turn around and say, oh yes, I did gardening every day and every week. No, that wasn't me. I've never grown a carrot in my life. But I thought, well, it can't be that hard. Let's try. So we gave it our best shot. And I'm still learning. I'm still learning now. But the things I've learned are amazing. The enzymes in the soil, lower anxiety. And that actually does. Yeah, it works. So then that's when the meal on me started to get a bit bigger. Yeah. Because I found out about these and how the enzymes can make you feel better and how much gardening relieved my stress. And yeah, working the day out there with my kids and getting things done. And I felt better. I felt like I'd accomplished something. So I wanted to then pass that on to someone else. And Nicola Pus, oh my God, she was brilliant. She approached me and said that we could possibly get the allotments open if I could have everything set up in to do it. So that was a challenge for me. So I went to look at the allotments. They hadn't been touched in eight years and they were eight foot high with brambles. And Nicola Pus would be somebody from the local authority in Harlow, I guess. Yeah, Harlow authority. Yeah. You know, she did a fantastic job for me doing that. And I managed to get a plan together and approach Harlow Council, do a little tunnel show. And then I got given the allotments to open, providing I could do the work.
HOST: So just just help me understand. So you started growing your own vegetables for summer of last year, spring, summer of last year.
BURD: Yeah.
HOST: And by the end of the year, for the end of summer, local authority had shown an interest in you and we're willing to donate what seems to be from the pictures on Instagram and such place. There's a huge piece of land I've given you.
BURD: Yeah, it's actually the smallest allotments we've got. Yeah, that's the smallest one. There are more, which is where my little plan gets bigger again. But the one I've got at the moment, yeah, it's the smallest, but it has been hard-graft. I mean, it's been fantastic. I've had HTS come and collect all of my rubbish that I collect and pull up. I have teams of volunteers that help me. Obviously I can't do all the hard work and things like that. I've loads of people that come down and help and it helps people with anxiety and depression. So we decided, okay, let's make being on me a little bit bigger. I've got a question, which I'd like to ask now
HOST: I'm going to leave for a little bit. But what made you believe and still believe that this is the thing that you should be doing, notwithstanding your family commitments? A meal on me's definitely started a fire in you, I think. But you didn't see it coming. It wasn't something you planned for. You weren't thinking all down the road I'm going to be feeding Harlow.
BURD: No, not at all. I don't know what happened to me. I woke up that morning and that was it. I decided the garden was going to get it, we planted. And as I found out more and more, a meal on me become bigger because it could help in so many ways. So with the allotments, it obviously helps people with anxiety, depression, or just people that love growing. It then starts a community to build. So there I want to be able to offer tea and coffee and cakes in the daytime. So we get the elders down and they can join in and then we want to do meal nights. So there were so many people lonely. Basically, I think it was coded. I have to say, I think it's coded. It literally without us knowing, it has affected so many people. So many in so many ways with the children, because they're in so long, now they're out down to school, loads of them are getting anxiety because they can't handle all the noise in the amount of people. My son being one of them. And so, yeah, a meal on me can help so many ways. We can have that where we can invite the kids down and come and do therapy by growing things and relieving things. At the same time, we're still feeding the most vulnerable because I'm going to use half of the allotment space to grow our food and the other 50% is going to anybody that needs an allotment. So if you're having any kind of anxiety, depression, or say you're an adult with learning difficulties, you haven't even got a worry about the £22 cost for half community-based people get out to meet each other and as you say you're drawing in people from all different ages.
BURD: Yeah, that was just from talking to people who I was delivering to. I'd speak to them and you'll get people saying, I'm so lonely, I've got no one to talk to. Other people, oh I'm so depressed or I've got such bang on anxiety since COVID. The amount of children not going to school because of it is a lot, it's shocking. And yeah, this is where we can make a difference. I see these opportunities and I think, yeah, we can step in there, we can do that.
HOST: But were you well known in Harlow? And if you were, please don't tell me what for. But were you particularly well known in Harlow at all?
BURD: No, not at all. I would have acquired ones, unbenefits at six in the corner and high it's yeah.
HOST: Well, quiet is an interesting term to use about you because you're definitely not quiet in what I've seen of you. But I can see the difference, what you're saying is how you perceive yourself as someone with unbenefits.
BURD: Well, if this is about me, it would be a different story. It's not about me. I'm not talking for me. I'm talking for everyone in Harlow out there who I'm delivering to, who's going through anxiety, who's got depression, who's kids are of school, who can't face a lot of things, who's really stressed at work. I've got the opportunity to offer something that will help. And it will help a lot and teach a lot after us all being stuck in COVID, being in the lockdown. Here we've come out, but there's still people that wear masks and a wary. A lot of people still feel funny around lots of people. And this will give us the opportunity to be able to all get together, have an entertainment night. I want to do meal nights where we ask different ethnic groups. Oh yeah, definitely. I've made room. I've made room on the allotment for this. So I want to do meal nights where we all get together for a meal night. It'll be something like a quid. No, me, it won't. It'll be free. I'll strap up some kind of deal with the book to somehow. And I want to ask all different ethnic groups in Harlow to have their night where they can cook for us and we can all enjoy.
HOST: But I'm interesting that you seem, as I said, really fired up. But listening to you then, it's like you're fired up for other people. If it was your story, it would be silent almost and you'd be introvert. But you're more comfortable saying, I want this for somebody else.
BURD: Yeah, I've been through a lot more than people know, more than I can talk about. And it destroyed me. To the point, if I talk about, I'll just break that into here. So I avoid that subject. It's not about me. And it's my chance to give back.
HOST: That's interesting, because in the short time that we've been recording that something to aim at podcast, Pete and I have wrestled with two questions really, should purpose be externally focused? And can or should your purpose be work related? And just talking to you now, I'm intrigued because I think you complicate things even further because you've started not as a work thing and your purpose found you. You're definitely externally focused. But your have a meal on me with love is so big. It must require now more and more structure and it's becoming work.
BURD: It's been work since day one to be fair. I can't say it hasn't been. It is. I get messages after two o'clock in the morning. Yes, you say. You do. But you take that. That's part of it. I'm open to that. That's fine. My aim. What's, yeah, it wasn't anything work related at all. But it has got so big and we do need more support. And the only way we can get funding that we need is to become a charity. And so I thought, okay, that's the next step. Right, let's tackle this one. I didn't have a clue how any of it works. I've been blindfolded. And I just try and find out as much as possible to try and make this progress to help more people.
HOST: Yeah, but I think you come across as genuinely genuine, if I can say that term. And I think you probably disarm people by being so honest and so upfront. So I think you probably managed to open a lot of doors. Or perhaps a lot of people couldn't do.
BURD: I do find, I think what it is is I've literally been through everything from death all the way up. So there's not much I haven't touched.
HOST: And you didn't like death, did you? I remember you saying it early on.
BURD: That was a scary one. But yeah, I ran. But yeah, because I've been through so many things, I can help so many people. I can use the experience that I've been through to be able to relate to that person and to be able to explain how they're feeling without them saying it to me. And then straight away they're like, you've got it. You understand. And I'm like, yeah, I understand.
HOST: But just to take you back, you must, I mean, I was going to ask a question about you need support, you know, volunteers or people to come and help you. You seem to have rallied a lot of troops to really sort of get you where you need to be.
BURD: Fantastic group of people. I have elbow grease, which are people that elbow grease, I know, wicked name, elbow grease. They help adults with learning disabilities. So what they do is they do my deliveries for me, which is brilliant because I can't do them. They're heavy. You know, I do a good lot of food. So elbow grease use their time where they want to help the community to come and pick up the parcels from me and deliver it out to the people. So that covers my delivery sections. And I have people come down to do a lot of them. They just want to help out. I have volunteers from companies where they have volunteer day and they want to offer it to me, which is brilliant. So yeah, everybody's really literally rallying together.
HOST: And have you got any gardeners volunteering for you?
BURD: I have. Yeah, I have gardeners sending me lots of seeds. I think I've got enough seeds for about the next hundred years. But yeah, they give me their advice and things. But what I'm asking for is elders. I want elders down the allotment to teach us the proper old ways so we can then teach the young kids how to do it. And it will be a trade that we won't forget then.
HOST: And the use of the term elders is interesting, isn't it? Because that's sort of out of fashion, isn't it? Outside of the Mormons, I think elders.
BURD: I like to say elders because if say OAPs, what's a bit, I don't know, elders covers quite a variety. It could be from 50 up, depending on the person. So I say elders because that's just my term I prefer. I'm sorry if it offends anyone.
HOST: On the show last week or the week before, we had a lady called Dori Suga who was involved in providing care services. And she's very keen to get the terminology for older people, people that are older, et cetera.
BURD: It sounds more respectful. I think so.
HOST: I think it does. Yeah, I quite like elders. That's a nice, nice, nice term.
BURD: I like that. And I'd like them to literally teach our young ones how to grow. Yeah. So we don't forget.
HOST: How many people do you think are currently physically helping you? Just as a ballpark. It's a few now, I think.
BURD: I'd say 20 minutes. 20, yeah.
HOST: And that takes coordination, doesn't it? You've got to somehow organise 20 people's time and effort. And that's a piece of work.
BURD: Yeah, this is where the work comes in. The bit, yeah. The bit that is kind of draining. You're on the laptop or on your phone continuously, either trying to get support or trying that, like you said, organise people to be at the same time, to get it all, to make sure they turn up and they can do that day or have a backup if they can't. You know, things happen and all of a sudden someone can't do deliveries that day. Well, I've got 20 families I need to feed, so I have to have someone on backup. So yeah, it is a bit of organising. But to be honest with you, because, as I say again, because it's for other people, I don't mind putting the time in. I really don't mind. And the kids are brilliant. My kids are fantastic. They love getting involved with it, doing the shopping and making all the parcels up for everyone. So it helps them to...
HOST: Are they three boys, or have I got that wrong? Two boys, yeah. They're sort of keen to help and be involved, obviously. So that's nice. So around the family table of an evening, you just talk about a meal on me, I guess.
BURD: We've always been this way. This is why we find it quite hard to understand, right? Because everybody says to us, oh, it's amazing, it's fantastic. But we don't see it that way, because we've always done this. If we see a homeless person, say for instance, out on the street, you can guarantee my son, we'll want to go in the shop and buy him something food-wise to bring out and give it to him. He will not walk past that person on the street. If there's an advert on TV about pets, oh my goodness, the amount he thinks I've got signed up to is unreal. It's cost me a fortune. But yeah, dude, I've signed up to it. We're on that one. But yeah, so we find it quite, we don't find it amazing or anything like that, because we do this. We don't say no to people. If someone walked up to us and said, have you got a spare quid, yeah, I've got a spare quid.
HOST: But something I was going to mention earlier, then chose not to, but now I'm bringing it back into play, is that your reason for giving, isn't because you're sitting on a country pile with loads and loads and more than you need. It's a genuine desire to help other people regardless of your own circumstances, isn't
BURD: it? Yeah, me and the boys, they went without a Christmas and before that, so we could put money into this. So this, yeah, it's cost us £600 and I know that sounds not a lot for anyone, but if you're in benefits and you're on a minus, trust me, that was hard work to get together. And we had to do it because we had to start this off. So the boys were amazing. They really did go without and, you know, I can't thank them enough. It sounded lovely. It sounded actually incredible. We're all proud of it. We're proud that we did that for other people. By seeing the thank-hues that we get, the amount of thank-hues that people send me and how it's changed them and how it saved them that week because they have nothing. And the boys get to see that and they love it.
HOST: And of course you're constantly in the news now, aren't you? You have been, so you've got to manage that as well. I mean, people like me sort of send you messages saying, hey, would you like to come and be on our podcast? That's also something to give a badge.
BURD: I love it because it gives me an opportunity to get us out there more and show that we mean what we're doing and we're not going to stop. I mean, we obviously mean what we're doing because we've put what we could into this, which was nothing really. You know, other people can turn around and go 600-credi on me. It's 600. We could never do that. You know, we had to go without.
HOST: I think that's something that made it really important. You didn't think, oh, actually, I can afford to give 600 pounds and it won't impact on me at all. That was a family decision almost. So as you say, go without at Christmas and then use that money to help other people. I think it's an incredibly powerful message.
BURD: Yeah, they really did. Their birth, they went without as well. Yeah, they did. And I, but, you know, we do love to, we know what it's like. We're here, you know, we're in that place where you're so down and you've got nothing. And to the point of it's what are we going to have to dinner tonight? This is what people don't understand. This is where it affects me because it's like yesterday, I was like, okay, boys, what's for dinner tonight? So we're looking the cupboards and it's like, what's there? There's a couple of tins in there or we look in the freezer and see if we could scrape whatever's left together and it's hard and it's heart-wrenching. So we don't want that for other people because we don't want them to feel the way we do. We don't want other people, hollows already got the highest amount of mouth suicides. Really? Yeah, in the whole country. So it doesn't need a lot to push these people up. So we thought, do you know what? Let's just do it. Even if it's, even if it just helps a couple of people, let's just do the best we can to show that we're there with them. You know, we're going through it too and you're not alone. You're not going through this alone and I will have your back. When it's that night and you go to the cupboards and you have no food to feed your kids and your kids are hungry, ring me, message me and I will drop you around round food. You will have dinner that night. I can't sit back knowing that other people are going through this and it is hard.
HOST: But I can see emotionally it's tough on you.
BURD: Yeah, very.
HOST: I don't want to sort of force you to talk about things that make you sort of upset. But obviously you've got to think about your personal health and personal wellbeing. And I sort of go back to the fishing. Are you able to recharge your batteries or able to relax or able to sit back and not think about a meal on me?
BURD: The only time I get to relax is when I know I've delivered to 20 families. They've all got food in their bellies and they're all happy. Then I'm like, yeah.
HOST: But that can only be momentarily because then you've got to think about tomorrow and you got to think about the volunteers and next week.
BURD: Yeah, it's fine. But then that gives me the drive to know next week I get to go, I've fed 20 families. Yay. And the week after I've fed 20 families. Yeah.
HOST: And I love that. But I still think I'm sort of slightly worrying now that you're not looking after yourself, which I'm sure you are. But I just want to assure our listeners that you've got yourself, you know, you're looking after yourself.
BURD: I'm totally fine. Honestly, having multiple sclerosis, I got told when I was 16. So I was young, getting it. And it's affected me my whole life, but I refuse to let it stop me. I've got a mess, but no way has it got me.
HOST: But you've also got Lupus as well, haven't you?
BURD: Yeah, I thought it's rare to have them both, lucky me. Apparently, I had more chance of winning the lottery. The actual doctor said that to me and I was like, really?
HOST: I'd buy a lottery ticket then.
BURD: I've tried. It doesn't work. Yeah, it's a crossover. So it is rare to have them both. But I got diagnosed by Dr. DeCrouse, who's the founder of the Lupus clinic in London at St Thomas's. And I got diagnosed with MS by top doctors in neurology in St Thomas's. And there was a big debate over it because I don't like doing two diagnoses. But because mine run both in line, they can't refuse either of them. Mine goes down as to, yeah. The only times I feel better, as I say, is when I'm helping. That relieves my stress. I know then I feel a bit more chilled. So the more I do, I'm fine. I do take on people's emotions. I do have to listen to the heart-wrenching stories that everyone's going through. But I also, on the good side, get to hand them over a big parcel of food. And I get to see the kids smile because they've got chocolate.
HOST: Oh, wow. It's chocolate in your packages, isn't it?
BURD: Chocolate's in too, yeah. That's nice.
HOST: What does, I assume they're all slightly different. But what would be the normal typical makeup of a meal? Because you've got those lovely bags. Some of you, they've got your meal on me with love on logo.
BURD: Yeah. So I do a bag of vegetables, which is as much vegetables as I can get at the time it was growing, obviously. So I had every kind of vegetable going in it. And then to that, I had pasta, rice, tinned food, bread, milk, cereal, wash stuff, ladies parts for monthly business, and children's chocolate, a bottle of lemonade. Basically, it's everything like jam, honey. Yeah, porridge. And I tried to...
HOST: Honestly, that's way more than I anticipated. But that means you must have some storage issues somewhere. You must be.
BURD: Yeah. As you can see behind me...
HOST: I did want to draw attention to your stories behind you.
BURD: This was my dining room, which now isn't my dining room, which is now full of food. And this is empty shelves. That's classed as empty. As you can... Well, yeah. Wow. When they're full, they're full. And I've got all the food, because obviously I've just been shopping this morning. So all the food's waiting in the hallway to come through. And then that gets made into parcels. And then I ring people and say, can you help me? Yeah, cool, Kylie. We'll deliver. They come to it off it, guys.
HOST: Wow. And that's the... What did you call them? Elbow grease people. They do your deliveries.
BURD: Yeah. Elbow grease. Yeah, it's brilliant, isn't it? They break a bunch of people. Absolutely brilliant. And they love going out and seeing the community. So it's a perfect job for them. So it brings us, that brings two charities in together.
HOST: Erm... I know that if you're using a food bank, it's complicated. There's referrals and proof through and out. But you're a different system, I'm guessing. You're a much more easy to access.
BURD: Yeah. All we've got to do is message me. There's no nose. That's the rule. We don't say no. So if you're... But if you think about it, it actually works really well. Because people that have got the money, they're not going to want to message me, are they? Let's be fair. They're not going to want to message me. So you can guarantee that only people are actually going to get it, and the people that need it. And that is the people I get. So it works. We don't say no, and anyone doesn't matter what you do as a job or where you are in life, if you're at the point that you need help, we're there.
HOST: Wow. It's incredibly moving to listen to. I have to say, it's like everything I know about the charity world, and it's a fair bit after years of working in it. You sort of fly in the face of it all. It's, you know, we never say no. We're here to help, and it's just a call. And every other charity organization has to work or chooses to work within a much more restrictive environment, I think. But yours is incredibly...
BURD: There's too many boundaries on everything. Let's be fair. Anything you want to do, even down to the allotment, you've got to have safety, you've got to know how to use your chainsaw, everything, all the time. And there's too much. It's like, get rid of it. We don't need that. Our is simple. If they need us, we're there, and we've got the allotment now. So if you want to come and join in and also give back or come and be part of our team, you're more than welcome to come down and give us a hand.
HOST: It's incredible, isn't it?
BURD: Really incredible. It actually works really well. I'm quite impressed with how it works actually. It does run pretty good.
HOST: I think I said before, I think we can accept that your purpose found you, and you weren't necessarily looking for another digital complication in life. And I'm guessing you don't have much in the way of free time. But it's all externally focused, and it's all about helping others. And I can hear and see that it really motivates and fires you up.
BURD: Shall I tell you the reason why?
HOST: Go on.
BURD: It puts your own mental health in perspective. Now it doesn't matter what you're going through. So it doesn't matter if I wake up in the morning and my legs are playing up and I can't walk straight, and I'm getting frustrated and angry or whatever. I go outside. I go into the allotment. I meet someone else who's gone through something absolutely horrific or they're at work and they've got so much stress on them. They offload and chatting away. I then think, actually, my legs are not working this morning. It isn't such a big deal. Okay, so why did I make it such a big deal? It didn't need to be. So then that puts me on the upper because that's then relieved me of a bit of stress. I'm not as bad as I thought I was. You meet more people. You hear all different, trust me, I've got all sorts of stories. I won't share them with you now. Some are horrific. Yeah. One's, yeah, really. But you meet these people and you think, they're getting up every day and they're doing it. Why am I complaining? I can do it. I can get up and I can do this. All right. I may only walk with one leg and I'm dragging my left leg everywhere. I literally am, but I'm doing it and I'm helping and I'm making a difference.
HOST: There's a part two to that. I just want to ask before. So do you think some people have made contact, not necessarily because they need the food, but there's that contact with other human beings in contact with people who care and or understand their situation?
BURD: Definitely. With the allotment and me getting these over, it's been given the opportunity to men, actually, quite a lot of men that are stressed or not in work or want to get back to work and we could use this as a platform. So this is where a meal on me grows bigger again because we can have it as a platform. You know, they come down, they're giving back to the community, they're socialising again, they're talking to people again. They're getting that communication build up. Okay, I feel ready now. I think I could start a job.
HOST: But your really convinced COVID has a real big effect on people and continues to do so.
BURD: Yeah, I really do. I didn't think it affected me, but then I noticed, yeah, it did. It did affect me. It made me very wary going outside, being around people because obviously I was in high lockdown. I couldn't go near anybody. And so coming out of that was extremely hard. Definitely if someone sneezed or anything like that, you're like, oh my goodness. So yeah, it did affect me without me realising. And it's not since talking to other people. And I hear their experiences, I'm like, oh, I'm like that too. Oh, that's why we don't do it. And then when you hear about the children off school, because they've got anxiety because they don't like the loud noise, they don't like the crowd of corridors. Things like that, it's affecting them. And it needs addressing. So where we could offer open space, time to talk, work for your emotions, grow beautiful vegetables, give back to the community. It will help those children who will turn into adults that could join our list of being on the higher male suicide rate.
HOST: So if... I've still got my part two, but I'll come to it. Have you been invited into any schools yet, just to talk about the project?
BURD: Not yet, but I've been so busy. I literally have really, especially over Christmas, it was manic. So now it's just starting to level out of it. Now I can say, right, okay, I can do more interviews, or I can go in and do talks, which I will do.
HOST: Yeah, I'm sure you'll be very well received.
BURD: I think I need my charity. As soon as I've got my charity number behind me, then I can say, schools here and there is my charity number. At the moment, I'm just a person who's done stuff, you know, I'm nobody really. But when I've got a charity number behind me, it's like I've got a bit of a backbone.
HOST: Yeah, that makes sense. But my question, or part B was relating back, is whether you think all of this effort and a meal on me has changed the way you feel about yourself, but also whether you think it's changed the way other people think about it.
BURD: To be honest with you, I've never thought of that. Has it made me change the way I think about myself? Not really, because I'm like this anyway. This is what I'm saying. We find this quite weird, because me and the kids are like this. I've always brought my kids up to be like this. Do as much as you can. Always help somebody. Don't ever bring someone down. Comments do matter. A comment to someone can change someone. No, it's more like we're teaching others how to do it, I guess.
HOST: And so you're just reinforcing your sense of self really, and this is a great way for you to actualise really, how you felt before and then just use all of that power and energy to help other people.
BURD: Well, if you do good, you can't do bad, can you?
HOST: I think not. That's right. I'm just... If you're always doing good, that makes sense. I just... Yes, yes, we'll leave that.
BURD: Exactly. We stick to being good, and we can't go wrong.
HOST: But obviously, you're a great magnet for people. People are drawn to you, whether it's media people or podcasting types, but clearly people are willing to help and support you, and the local authority just said, oh, we'll give you a piece of land.
BURD: I mean... Yeah, definitely. Yeah, which is fantastic. I think what it was, I had to prove I could do it, and I knew that. I knew I couldn't get a lot of them, because nobody could get them a lot of them. And the only way I could do it was by doing it myself, by doing the garden. So we couldn't get a lot of them, so we used the garden. Then we could go to the council, look, we've done this and fed this many people. Please can we take it further? So I needed that really. I couldn't just turn up and say, oh, I want land. I needed to say, look, I've destroyed my whole garden to grow all of this. Can we do more? Can we get a lot of them? And I think without behind us, that gave us a bit more of a, you know, a bit of a backbone that we could say, you know, we've done this.
HOST: And obviously, the distance you've travelled doing what you do since last year is enormous. I'd imagine the local authority, see you as a very good thing. We have work quick. And have other charities reached out to? I know we talked about Elbow, Greece, but there must be other food banks and other food share services in Harlow, is that right?
BURD: Yeah, but I tend to find, and I don't mind saying this really, because it needs to be said, but charities can sometimes be very selfish. Or they can be very like, oh, you're touching, you're taking my ground, like quite territorial of their area. And I tend to find, and it shouldn't be like that. So the relationship I have with Elbow, Greece is brilliant because we work together. But yeah, I tend to find other charities steer away from me a little bit. But maybe I'm a threat, I don't know, but I'm not there to be a threat. I'm there to work with them. And I'd love it if, you know, because we deliver, whereas others don't deliver. And they say to me, well, how do you afford to deliver? Well, because I join another charity.
HOST: Oh, the ship working.
BURD: Exactly. And if we all do that, look what we can achieve. I would like to see a difference with charities not being so mean.
HOST: Yes, no, I mean, I've worked in the charitable sector for many years, both as an employee and then as a consultant. And you're echoing quite a few thoughts that I've heard and sort of said myself. Charity world is big. And as you say, that each sort of group has a small bit of territory and it'll probably try and hang on to it. So you're very much a new kid on the block. Huge media publicity. Everybody wants to talk to you. And going back to how you see yourself, I don't know whether you would willingly accept that you're incredibly good with people. You were able to bring people together. And whether you knew that about.
BURD: No, I didn't know that about myself. I've always been really shy. This is where, yeah, I honestly, incredibly shy. But then I've got to a point where I've been through everything in my life and it's been hard that I thought, stuff it. You might as well just say what you want and what you need. If something needs to be said, say it and I will say it. Like, why would I just silently agree with you? No, I'm not going to silently agree. I'm going to say it's wrong.
HOST: But this is on behalf of other people. I'm guessing you've been silent about yourself and the things you need to sort of advocate
BURD: for yourselves. I hadn't been silent for myself at all. And no, I hadn't been silent for myself. But I've been let down massively, massively by the police system. And so from that, I thought, I'm not doing this anymore. You know, why? Why was I let down so bad? Why did I deserve that? And I didn't deserve that. And so the only way to make a change is to say the change you're making and blink and do it.
HOST: Yeah. And I think I've said this previously, but your life's certainly not been made any easier for starting to feed the people of hollow, is it? It's complicated, what is probably a complicated life already. So it's important to you, a meal on me. And I think it's a huge commitment.
BURD: It's everything to me.
HOST: But you're in it for the long haul. That's a bit I wanted to ask you.
BURD: Oh, most definitely. I know I've got MS. I know I've got Lupus. I know about coming down the line for me, you know, rebags and wheelchairs. I know the whole story. But it's not going to do that to me. It can try. It can try as hard as it likes. I mean, it's taken my left leg. I can't feel my hands properly. And I actually buzz like a human vibrator. That's what MS feels like. But what can I do about it? I can't change it. And sitting in four walls most definitely is not going to change anything.
HOST: So it's also, I think, probably your own mental health status because you've got so much more going on. You've got people that constantly sort of want to your opinions and views on things. I think that's good. But I'm guessing, as you're in it for the long haul, we have to assume that regardless of the colour of the government, life is going to remain difficult for the excluded, marginalised and the poorest people.
BURD: You know, we need a different colour for the government. It doesn't need to be blue or red. We need like a purple in there that's full of the people because of the way it is ridiculous. I mean, come on. You've only got to be an idiot to sit there and look at it all and see all the leaks, all the holes, where you're losing money, how you could bring the money in, how you could make this country bigger and better, how you could spread this out across the country, give Manchester whatever their title would be. I don't know. Say they were into iron. They wanted to do their iron bit. Let them bring the money in. Instead of it being stuck in London with all the money, greedy people, it does make me sick. And when I look at it and I listen to all the, oh, we're going to change, it's like in the budget, okay, they're going to bring our money up to the level that it costs. Okay, mate, but what are we going to do in between? Because at the moment, I would have been starving. It's okay for them with all the money and it's all right for them to say that. A month is long, let alone six months, six months, what's going to happen to six months? It's just ridiculous. All the loopholes backhanders, why? Just shut the whole lot around the country properly. They make it so complicated and I really it's ridiculous. It doesn't need to be like this. And I think it's been set in stone for so long. Nobody is willing to change it. We need to bring it up to date. We need a new government. We need someone for the people for once.
HOST: I think you're saying everything that a lot of people agree with, but I think a lot of people will not dissim it yourself, but just making a difference in their bit and feel a little bit unable to change the bigger picture. So it needs more people like Carly Bird to do their bit and then come together and perhaps Carly Bird's mouth. I didn't want to say that, but I think you'd be very good in front of the right people. Has your local MP been to see you yet?
BURD: No, I went to see my local MP twice.
HOST: Right. So it's gone well or?
BURD: That's as far as it goes. I've got an invite to walk around the house of Parliament. No, it's all right, I'll pass that.
HOST: So they offered you a chance to go to the houses of common, the house of common, but didn't say we can give you some more. I've had no help whatsoever.
BURD: No, I've had no help. What's the name of your MP?
HOST: Just out of interest?
BURD: Robert Halfen.
HOST: I look forward to hearing from him.
BURD: I'm sure you will. To be honest with you, I know he's a great man. I've got nothing against him, but come on. I've fed all these people. Someone could have given me a bit of support and said, yeah, actually she's doing a good job. Give us some money her way at least. You know, something, but no.
HOST: Your midway or two-thirds way through your sort of charity application, aren't you? That's all ready to sort of go, if we will. You think that will really help with opening more doors and getting you that sort of status you like or would need. But the work isn't going to decrease, is it? There's going to be more and more work coming your way. I just wonder how you feel about that and whether you think in the very short space of time you've been sort of doing this, it's gone way further than I'm guessing you thought. But now you must start to think of the future and how you want to plan it and just where you want to take it.
BURD: Yeah, well, if I can do this amount of stuff in this short amount of time, imagine what I can do in two years. Trust me, I'm not stopping. I am not stopping. I'll come to barriers, I do come to barriers all the time, but I smash through them because it's not for me, it's for everyone else. They need this, we need this. And if a people let yourself, you went through COVID too, I'm sure there's certain things that affected you. I'm sure I don't know the amount of mental health problems that people don't talk about. I know everyone goes through these things. They're in a queue and they don't like it, it's anxiety or they feel funny going to Tesco's or maybe it's just turning up for work or everybody has it. It doesn't matter what steps you are in, wherever you are, whether you're loving come, whether you're high income, we're all human. Everybody goes through these emotions, which is why this is so good because it caters for everybody. So say you are having a hard day, you're having stress at work, I say come down, come down and take a tree down with me. You're ever loved. You're never loved. And we get there and we get cracking and we chat and we do everything, but it works.
HOST: Yes, I must remind you, you've invited me down to the allotment, so come the warmer weather and when it's not pouring with rain, I plan to see you down there.
BURD: You're a flip-flip, darn, no, are you?
HOST: Very much so. I don't know whether you answer the weather of course, just jumping around again. It's like we've had terrible weather, haven't we, for the last few weeks?
BURD: Yeah, we have. It's been freezing. We haven't been able to do anything obviously when it was frozen because everything was stuck to the ground. You could even lift it. But as soon as we could, we've been down there, cracking on and I'm at the stage now and I'm just nearly ready to start planting. So in 12 weeks time, we have fish.
HOST: Well, that's when I might turn up them when there's some digging to be gone. That's the pulling, harvesting. I think unless you and anyone else you definitely want to share with us, I think we've probably reached the end of that. But it's anything you want to add?
BURD: Not really. I just think anyone that is listening that think they can help in any sort of way, any sort of way at all, whether it's from you've got allowance for your workers to go and do some volunteering or whatever it is, please send our way because we really need it and this can really make a difference. We're not stopping and we're going to tackle all these problems as we come across them. And fingers crossed, it spreads and we get to spread it around.
HOST: So how best can people contact you, Carly?
BURD: Facebook mostly. Yeah, or I've got my phone number up everywhere, my actual mobile phone number. Yeah, literally. I've had people from Manchester call me and Scotland. Yeah, so you've literally got my mobile number two contact me on. You've got my email address, you've got my Facebook, I'm on LinkedIn, I'm on Instagram, I'm on TikTok, so pretty much everywhere.
HOST: So anybody that wants to contact you won't suffer from sort of the shortage of information.
BURD: We are everywhere.
HOST: Well, Carly, it's been absolutely fabulous speaking with you. I don't have to say it. And I'm wishing you all the success with a meal on me with love. And I think as well as wishing you all that success, what I'd really like to see is you come back on the podcast, perhaps at the end of the summer and just a little update so people can keep in touch with you and just see how it's going. Yeah, lovely, lovely. Well, thank you very much.
HOST: Well that was Neil talking with Carly Bird. Well, we hope you enjoyed the show. Please let us have your thoughts and comments. And remember, you can follow the show on the website, www.somethingtowainthat.com. Subscribe via your favorite podcast provider and follow us on all the usual social media platforms using something to aim at. If you want to get in touch, comment on the show or suggest a guest, you can email us at helloatsomethingtowainat.com.
