Nairn launches charity’s festive foodbank appeal
Chef urges public to help feed families this Christmas
An appeal has been launched to help ensure desperate families in Stirling don’t go without a Christmas dinner.
Last year, Start-Up Stirling provided turkey and all the trimmings for around 200 families through its Feed a Family This Christmas appeal.
And the charity is again asking for festive support from the public as demand on the Stirling foodbank has been constant over the past 12 months.
Top chef Nick Nairn was at the organisation’s Springkerse depot to launch the appeal and stressed the importance of families being able to have a meal together at Christmas.
“Christmas is all about sitting round the table,” he told the Observer. “For me, it is heartbreaking that we have people in Stirling who do not have the resources to do that.
“A Christmas meal is more than just eating food, it is a family activity and everybody should have a right to it.”
Throughout the year, Start-Up collects food to distribute to the families it supports.
However the charity is raising money through the appeal so that it can donate fresh food at Christmas, and extend the amount of fresh produce it provides to families throughout the year.
A donation of £10 will provide a Christmas meal for an individual, £25 will pay for a full family Christmas dinner, £50 will provide a week’s healthy food pack for a family and £100 will allow the organisation to access fresh fruit, vegetables and meat for 25 families.
Start-Up’s Joanie Littlejohn said: “Our Feed a Family Appeal was a great success last year, and we want to do even better this time round. Over 200 families received Christmas dinners as a result of this appeal in 2015 and throughout the year there were almost 85,000 meals distributed by Start-up Stirling.”
Nick, who runs classes for Stirling youngsters at his cookery school in Port of Menteith, has pledged to help the foodbank in any way he can and stressed the importance of providing support to get young people cooking.
“Firstly, we shouldn’t need services like these,” he said. “This is a consequence of something that is not right, but unfortunately we have to have foodbanks in Scotland.
“People unfortunately find themselves in circumstances where they cannot afford to feed themselves properly, and they need help. This is all run by volunteers and what they do is fantastic.”