Publicans join forces to set up Ferry foodbank

Mine hosts launch scheme to help struggling residents during Covid-19 crisis

A group of Broughty Ferry pub owners have joined forces to help locals struggling during lockdown.

The six pubs have launched a foodbank and hope to begin accepting requests soon before starting deliveries next week.

No referral will be needed and most of the foodbank parcels will be delivered on foot by an army of 60 volunteers who have signed up.

The plan has been hatched by The Fort, Anchor, Eagle Coaching Inn, Bruach, Doc Ferry’s and the Occidental.

The publicans say they are limiting Broughty Ferry Food Bank deliveries to those living in the DD5 postcode to keep the small operation feasible.

They have raised more than £900, including donations from the RNLI Broughty Ferry lifeboat station and Dundee Licensed Trade Association.

Debbie Findlay, who owns the Eagle Coaching Inn, said the aim was to “do our bit for the local community”.

She said: “We all met a few weeks ago to talk about what we were going to do when the crisis hit the UK.

“We knew the impact would be bad and we knew locals would be hit hard. It hasn’t been easy to set-up the foodbank because we’re amateurs really.

“To keep it simple and easy for people to reach out to us, we won’t require a referral through the council’s Social Work Department.

“We want everyone who needs help to come straight to us. That’s anyone from students going without their part-time jobs or loans to elderly people that can’t get out to the shops.

“There’s about 16,000 people living in Broughty Ferry and if we can deal with them and help them then we will be doing our bit.”

The 55-year-old added: “There will be sunny days ahead. We are trying to stay positive during all this.”

Those who want to donate nonperishable items can drop them off at the Clydesdale Bank on Gray Street.

The foodbank is running from a secret location for security reasons.

Meanwhile, Broughty Ferry Rotary Club donated £1,000 to their supported foodbank, Taught by Muhammad.

The foodbank recently said it had seen unprecedented demand and was struggling to source enough stock due to panic buying.

President Scott Leslie said: “We have supported Taught by Muhammad for some years, with members donating goods at our weekly meetings, which we deliver to them.

“We had a bag packing collection at Sainsbury’s towards the end of last year and we have added to this from funds and donated £1,000 to allow them to top up reserves.”

Homeless and vulnerable people in Dundee are to receive free sandwiches for a period during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Social Bite has expanded efforts to provide free food across Scotland to those who need it.

In Tayside, the initiative has been backed by care home operator Balhousie Care Group.

The sandwiches are being prepared at a Dundee care home, with Social Bite and Balhousie aiming to distribute 800 sandwiches per week throughout the city.

Social Bite co-founder Josh Littlejohn said: “Last week Social Bite delivered more than 15,000 emergency food packs in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen to homeless people and other vulnerable groups.

“We plan to keep growing this food distribution service throughout the Covid-19 crisis and we were determined to extend the provision to Dundee.

“As we don’t have premises in Dundee, we really needed a local partner and Balhousie Care Group has massively stepped up to enable this to happen.

“By donating their kitchen team and the food, they have helped us to feed many Dundonians who are in really desperate need during this crisis.”

Social Bite will distribute the food to a number of venues across Dundee, including St Salvador’s Church, Rock Solid Douglas and Lochee Community Larder.

Staff at Balhousie will also deliver the food where necessary. The initiative is expected to run in the city for four weeks.

Balhousie Group chief executive officer Jill Kerr said: “(Social Bite) does extremely valuable work, which is going to be needed all the more in the coming months.

“It’s our job to provide care every day to some of our most vulnerable citizens, and with this initiative we are simply taking our care outside of our homes and on to the streets.”

More information on the initiative can be found on the Social Bite website.