Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
National recognition for community group
food parcels but by now it must be more than 2,000, maybe even 2,500. There are too many to count.
“Dundee has always been a victim of poverty but things have calmed down since the height of the pandemic.
“But that is the joy of Dundee Thegither – we can pop up wherever we are needed.
“There were 130 nominations for this award so it is putting Dundee on the map as well.
“It is not until someone praises you for what you are doing you realise just what good you have done.
“Openreach said they had never seen a community come together like this before, they said they could actually see everyone was mucking in to help, which is great.”
Siobhan Tolland from the group added: “We set up Dundee Thegither because we knew immediately the impact lockdown would have on our most vulnerable.
“Dundee is a strong city with great resilience but, for all of us who started this, our preoccupation was to help and support our community and ensure no one was left behind.
“We have tried to bring a safety net to those struggling, as well as trying to reduce isolation.
“We also just wanted to bring some fun into people’s lives.
“What we found is so many people approached us wanting to do something similar, and that just made our city all the stronger.”
Dundee Thegither was nominated for the award by Chris Law, MP for Dundee West.
He said: “There have been many great examples of people going to great lengths to help our communities through the pandemic.
“But personally, I can think of no one more worthy of the Openreach award than Dundee Thegither, who’ve kept the city’s spirit alive and who’ve given out thousands of food packages.”
Clive Selley, chief executive of Openreach, added: “The stories received from across the UK have been inspiring and show how many people are working to make a difference and support their neighbours during lockdown.
“The volunteers at Dundee Thegither haven’t sought recognition but they’re a wonderful example to their community.
“I’m delighted and very grateful to be able to thank them for everything they have done.”