Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
New food-sharing initiative aimed at elderly folk
A PIONEERING food-sharing project that connects people who love cooking with an older neighbour is coming to Fife.
By turning an everyday activity into a volunteering opportunity, Meal Makers strengthens connections within communities and provides a flexible way for people to volunteer their time and skills locally in a way which suits them.
The initiative helps to reduce food poverty and malnutrition, improve diets and combat isolation and loneliness.
It has proved popular in other areas of Scotland and is now about to start in Tayport thanks to the work of volunteers.
Derek Gray, vice-chairman of Tayport Community Council, was one of the driving forces behind bringing Meal Makers to Fife and he hopes there will be a big uptake locally.
“We’ve got a foodbank in Tayport but one of the groups of people we recognised that we’re probably not reaching who might benefit are elderly folk,” he said.
“Meal Makers is such a simple idea. Most of us cook too much anyway, and the idea is that the extra goes to an elderly person who maybe doesn’t get a cooked meal. This approach is far less stigmatising than someone coming into a foodbank.
“A volunteer cook prepares the meal and takes it round to the recipient — it could be their neighbour or someone down the street.”
Meal Makers is a subsidiary of the award-winning Scottish charity Food Train, which brings vital fresh food to vulnerable older people in need.