Tackling the scourge of food poverty

Sixteen projects across Scotland will share £350,000 to help families access fresh and healthy food, Communities Secretary Angela Constance has announced. It’s the second allocation of money from the £1 million Fair Food Fund which is already funding 20 projects.

The latest announcement includes three Edinburgh projects: Oasis Food Bank in Gorgie, Bethany Chrsitian Trust and the Broomhouse-based Edinburgh Food Project. The money will help foodbanks and community groups to provide people with nutritious food, teach them how to cook fresh meals, strengthen local partnership approaches and reduce reliance on emergency food provision.

Ms Constance made the announcement on a visit to Castlemilk Parish Church in Glasgow which is already seeing the benefits of almost £30,000 from the fund.

Castlemilk Community Meals provides a local response through community meals and social activities twice a month for local people to help address food poverty and alleviate social isolation – allowing them to pay what they can afford by donation or giving of their own time and talent as their method of payment.

Ms Constance (pictured) said: “Everybody in Scotland should have access to fresh and healthy food and these projects ‎will help people across the country who are struggling to feed themselves and their families, while reducing the reliance on emergency food provision.

“We have been clear that UK Government welfare cuts and benefit sanctions have continually pushed more and more people into food poverty and increased the demand and number of food banks in Scotland. This shocking trend has to stop, and we will continue to fight those changes. Relying on foodbanks is unacceptable and it’s something we want to eradicate. No-one should need face those conditions in a modern country.

“Our ambition is to help community initiatives to support people in a dignified way and try to address the underlying causes of food poverty, and it’s encouraging to see people and organisations coming together to deliver programmes that reflect this.”