The Scotland Loves Local Glasgow Gift Card can be spent with hundreds of businesses in Glasgow, including Enable Glasgow’s social enterprise Fortune Works. Nichola English is the Development Officer at Fortune Works:
“Fortune Works, in Drumchapel, Glasgow, is one of Scotland’s largest social enterprises for people with learning disability, offering a full holistic service for 117 service users aged from 18 to over 80. Our focus is community development and integration, reducing the stigma of disability and giving our service users the opportunity to make a valued and useful economic contribution to the community.
“Our social enterprise activities include our garden centre, private gardening services and growing our own produce. We also sell handmade items in our garden centre craft shop including crafts, jewellery and cards. The shop is open Monday to Friday 9-3:30pm. Everything we make can be personalised at a cost-effective price. We’ve made Easter baskets, wedding favours, Christmas boxes and more.
“As a service user-led organisation, it is vital that we meet the needs of our service users. When Covid hit, we had to rapidly change as an organisation. Staff were dropping off packs for our service users to grow their potatoes, and we had virtual craft and wellbeing sessions. I think it really hit home to us all how valued our relationships are with others, and how important community is.
“What we liked about the Scotland Loves Local Glasgow Gift Card programme is that it brings the community together, which is exactly what we try to do here at Fortune Works. Knowing that people can come to our shop and spend their local Gift Card is a huge morale boost for our service users. It is great for our service users to know they are helping our local area to thrive.
“The products we sell are fantastic but, more than that, customers always get a warm welcome and the chance to really feel a part of something special. It’s not just a product, it’s an investment in the community. It’s the same with the Gift Card, every card purchased is an investment in the place where we live.
“Hopefully, being a part of the Scotland Loves Local Glasgow Gift Card will open us up to new potential customers who can come and visit our shop and see the wonderful, unique items we have available. Any money that is made through our social enterprise activities is reinvested back into the community. We’re thrilled to be a part of our city’s Gift Card scheme. Working together, we can build a stronger community for the benefit of all.”
