Shoppers help donate vital food to hospice
Generous shoppers in East Kilbride have donated vital food to Kilbryde Hospice through Lidl’s‘Teaming up to Tackle Hunger’ initiative.
By simply scanning a flyer at the till, local shoppers added funds to purchase one of five store cupboard essentials including packets of rice, tins of tuna and cereal, with each donation matched by Lidl.
Lidl’s Hairmyres store processed the kind-hearted donations collected by hospice staff to be put to good use for in-patient meals, and community deliveries.
The Hairmyres store in East Kilbride and Kilbryde Hospice, which provides palliative care, is just one partnership in the Teaming up to Tackle Hunger scheme, with Lidl’s 105 Scottish stores partnering with 105 charities across the country.
The initiative is in addition to Lidl’s ongoing partnership with Neighbourly through their ‘Feed it Back’ scheme, with the retailer donating surplus food from stores to local charities daily.
Through this, Lidl has donated over 785,000 meals to an extensive network of 330 community partners across Scotland including food banks, community centres, soup kitchens and more.
Erin Sandilands, fundraiser at Kilbryde Hospice, said: “We’re fortunate to have been nominated by Lidl Hairmyres and are grateful for all the donations that we have received.
“Kilbryde Hospice is a 12-bed unit, with only a proportion of funding being provided throughout the year.
“This means we rely on the goodwill and kindness of businesses like Lidl and East Kilbryde residents to help keep our vital services running. Thank you again to the local community for supporting Kilbryde.”
Ross Millar, Lidl’s Regional Director for Scotland, said: “The success of the Teaming up to Tackle Hunger initiative is testament to our shoppers’ generosity and commitment to supporting their local community.
“This new format for donating in-store has made contributing to charity easier, we are amazed with the contribution and what we can achieve together with our customers.”
Customer donation boxes are also available in store for customers who wish to continue to directly donate food and groceries to local causes.
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While the last year has seen unimaginable changes to the way I carry out my role as a minister, there is one part of my work which has remained constant, and that is the conduct of funerals.
While there have been changes in the numbers of people attending, and restrictions about socially distancing and the wearing of masks, funerals are still taking place with the same regularity as before.
One of the big changes is my inability to physically meet with the family before the service, but we’re finding ways around that with video calls. After the funeral being unable to offer a handshake or a hug is still something I struggle with, but there will be time for that in the future.
I always find it incredibly interesting chatting with the family about a person’s life. Often it can feel like a social history lesson as we recall things like leaving school at fifteen, or doing national service.
I’m always moved by the stories of people coming to East Kilbride new town, leaving behind a shared toilet on the stairwell in tenement flats in Glasgow, and discovering a house with a back and front door and a bathroom all to themselves
It’s especially interesting for me who has maybe only known a person in their old age, to discover the wealth of experiences they have packed into their lives.
There is a poem by Linda Ellis I sometimes use at funerals which speaks about “the dash”.
It’s about the dash which often appears on a funeral order of service between the date of birth and the date of death.
“For that dash represents all the time they spent alive on earth,
“Only those who loved them know what that little line was worth.
“It matters not how much we own, the cars, the house, the cash,
What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.”
For some people, their dash has been filled with a series of great achievements, and successful careers, for others it might be filled with service to others and love for their family.
There is also a sense in which this little poem speaks to all of us who still have our lives to live, for when we think about that dash, what does it represent?
We can also realise that it’s never too late to alter what it represents.
“So think about this long and hard, are there things you’d like to change?
“For you never know how much time is left that can still be rearranged.
“To be less quick to anger and show appreciation more
“And love the people in our lives like we’ve never loved before.
“If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile, remembering that this special dash might only last a while.
“So when your eulogy is read, with your life’s actions to rehash,
“Would you be proud of the things they say about how you lived your dash?”