Allotment fund hits 'mind-blowing' £250,000 as Carly Burd hails response to salt attack
ITV Anglia's Hannah Pettifer has been back to catch up with charity allotment founder Carly Burd after her fund topped £250,000.
The founder of a charity allotment vandalised by salt said she has found the support shown to her "mind-blowing" as donations topped a quarter of million pounds.
Carly Burd, from Harlow, was devastated when the community patch she had only just started to use to grow fruit and veg during the cost-of-living crisis was targeted earlier this month.
But since then more than £250,000 has been donated by members of the public through her A Meal On Me With Love fundraising page.
Supporters included Match of the Day host Gary Lineker who donated £500.
Three weeks after the attack Ms Burd said she was determined to repay the faith people had shown in her.
She said: "It's a hell of a lot of money and it's more than I could ever imagine, so the things I can do with it is beyond, because I've had to live with nothing and made all this happen on nothing, so imagine what I can do with that behind me.
"I'll be able to hire a digger, I won't have to dig anymore. Digging when you're planting vegetables is brilliant but digging when the land's like this is not brilliant, it's a lot of work and all the volunteers that have come to help me do it in the past, we have worked so hard, but I still have all this to go.
"So every way I can make the money stretch and get it all done as lowest as possible will be brilliant."
Police are looking into the vandalism, which is reported to have taken place between 2pm on 7 April and 9am on 8 April.
Ms Burd plot was wrecked after salt was poured on to the allotment, prompting an outpouring of sympathy and donations to her online fundraising page after she posted an emotional video on TikTok after discovering the attack.
Onions and potatoes which had already been planted were destroyed, but the allotment was restored to health live on ITV's GMB programme as volunteers rallied round to get rid of the salt and move the top soil.
Despite the setback, potatoes and onions are now back in the ground.
Other plans include new fencing, gates, and CCTV while Ms Burd also wants to create a children's growing area and put fruit trees in local schools.
But the site still needs clearing of the contaminated soil which is piled up on one side of the plot.
Ms Burd said: "We went down a foot and a half, we had to, there's no point in trying to remove it and thinking have we got it all? I can't even begin to tell you, I hate going over it all the time but it was just devastating."
But Carly says people's support and comments keep her going.
"You can't complain can you, look how easy this is. Nothing high tech is it and look how much you can get from it, you can grow a whole year's worth of fruit and vegetables."
"If I didn't make the effort we would have gone without food so there was no choice, it was crack on. And it can't be too hard.
"It's so much fun, just seed and soil and water and you're like, oh my god look what I've grown, I was so excited. I love it and not enough people do this and we need it so much, it's so good for mental health, just join in, it's fun."
Ms Burd said her motivation has always been helping those who are on low income, whether by feeding them from her own back garden, or putting together food parcels of donated goods.
ITV Anglia's Hannah Pettifer went to talk to Ms Burd about setting up the allotment in October.
Ms Burd's initiative started in her back garden but moved to the allotment so she can grow more produce, which she boxes up along with other essential items before it is distributed to those on benefits and low incomes and pensioners.
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