The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Food larder’ s desperate call for £10k to ‘survive’
Volunteers at a Dundee food charity say they need to raise £10,000 to stay afloat as the rising cost of living bites.
Soaring energy, food and fuel prices have seen more people than ever visit the larder at the Fairfield Community Sports Hub in Linlathen, one of the most deprived areas of Dundee.
Now people running the larder say they need to raise the cash to pay for food, building costs and to keep their collection van running.
Jim Sorrie, director of the sports hub which started the larder in May 2020 during the first lockdown, said the group is struggling to keep up with demand.
He said: “The recent rise in energy prices and the cost of living crisis is making life tougher than ever for local families.
“Demand for food parcels from the larder continues to grow and we are struggling to keep up.”
Yesterday morning alone there were 55 food parcels handed out to families.
Jim said: “So many more people than ever before are having to ask for help.
“We give out food parcels to hundreds of people every week.
“We now have 417 registered families. These are people who previously would never had thought they would be in this position.
“There are hard-working men and women who are finding it almost impossible to feed, clothe and support their families. We know that people are even going without basic necessities such as toiletries, which we also want to be able to provide, along with other essentials such as baby food and nappies.”
Mr Sorrie added: “This is a vital appeal to raise funds for our food larder at our charity which feeds hundreds of families in our area every week.
“Fairfield Community Sports Hub sits in one of the most deprived areas of Scotland, our work is vital to the community and at a time of crisis we want to increase the help we can give people.”
He added: “Whilst energy prices and the cost of living goes up it’s even more important to be able to run the food larder, where local people can come and get vital essentials that many of us take for granted.”
Mr Sorrie said that if the group is able to reach its target the money will allow the food larder to survive for at least another two years. He said: “This funding will help our food larder to survive for at least two years.
“It will help us cover costs such as food purchases, the van we use to collect donations, the heat and light for our building.
“It will also help us decorate the area to make it welcoming and a place where people can sit and relax in as well and even have to chance to chat about the other things in life they may be concerned about.”