Social Bite playing vital role in feeding most vulnerable during virus crisis

Over 450,000 emergency food packs produced and distributed to the needy over the last four months, writes Josh Littlejohn

he months passed since lockdown was first announced have presented challenges none of us have ever faced before. The isolation from loved ones and detachment from our normal way of life has been hard and something nobody could ever have envisaged. Regular face-to-face catch-ups with friends were replaced by Zoom calls and quizzes while for many, the morning commute became a walk from the bedroom to the kitchen table. The economic turmoil hit our most vulnerable the hardest, with food poverty and hunger becoming a big concern across Scotland.

While at points the lockdown felt like it stretched for miles in front of us, with no end in sight, there is now a feeling there is light at the end of the tunnel. The economy is coming to life, shops, restaurants and bars have started to reopen, sporting events have started to resume and we’ve all enjoyed being able to meet up with friends and family after so long apart. Personally, it’s been great to welcome customers back to our Social Bite cafes and Vesta restaurant as well as being able to actually catch up with colleagues face-to-face.

However, getting to this point has not been easy. As a nation, the people of Scotland have come together to suppress coronavirus. We’ve worked as one to adhere to guidelines and support each other to flatten the curve and reach the point where businesses can open their doors once again.

The result of our collective efforts is clear to see and coronavirus cases in Scotland are currently very low. This is something that we can all be proud of but now is not the time to take our foot off the gas. Just because lockdown measures are starting to ease, it shouldn’t be taken as a sign that you’re able to forget safety guidelines. Businesses are only able to open now because we’re following the FACTS guidelines. Wearing face coverings, avoiding crowded spaces, cleaning hands regularly, maintaining twometre social distancing and self-isolating and getting tested when you have symptoms of the virus remain essential points to adhere to.

With the lifting of measures in place to keep the virus under control, the risks of transmission increases again. As we start to interact with each other more, the virus has more opportunities to spread. Therefore it’s crucial that we continue to stick with it and fight coronavirus together.

It’s been a tough time for so many people in the business world and there’s huge optimimism as the hospitality and other industries open up again. At Social Bite, while we’ve felt the challenges like any other business, we’ve also been proud to be able to play a part in helping some of the most vulnerable people within our society during the coronavirus crisis. We’ve been able to produce and distribute over 450,000 emergency food packs to Scotland’s most vulnerable people over the last four months thanks to support from the Scottish Government and the amazing generosity of the public and Scottish business community.

When the pandemic first hit, alonside others in the hospitality sector, Social Bite were faced with a reality where we had to close all of our cafes, restaurant and our catering business for trading. Almost overnight a large percentage of our income ceased and we were really worried about being able to continue to provide the food, support and employment opportunities that so many homeless people in Scotland rely on. The compassion and generosity of people in Scotland has enabled us to distribute almost half a million food packs to vulnerable people during the pandemic, which we could never have dreamed possible when this crisis first hit us.

We’re delighted that we’ve been able to do this and there’s been a real commitment from people from all walks of life to come together and provide help and hope. As we welcome customers back to our Social Bite cafes and our Vesta restaurant, it’s been fantastic to see the way everyone is adapting. From our staff who have been so committed to ensuring they keep each other and our customers safe, to visitors to our sites, who are clearly following the guidelines set out by the Scottish Government and its expert health officials.

As we continue to move forward as a nation, I remain incredibly passionate about expanding our work to tackle homelessness across Scotland and beyond. We’ve had to adapt as a nation over these past few months but thanks to everyone’s work to suppress the virus, we are now at a point where we can start to welcome people back through our doors and we are now starting to think about how we might bring some of Social Bite’s work to other cities. We opened our

first ‘village’ in 2018 and it’s now a really successful, thriving community and it’s a major goal of ours to take this model to other places and continue to tackle homelessness in Scotland and further afield.

We’re only at this point thanks to the sacrifices we’ve all made and it’s crucial we don’t ease up in our efforts to suppress coronavirus. As you head back out to enjoy a meal in a restaurant or catch up with friends in a bar, remember that the threat of the virus is still very real. We’ve come together as a nation, made amazing progress and if we continue to follow the guidelines, we can continue to move forward to create a better world on the other side of this. The more we do now, the better the outcome in the long run. Find out more at: https:// www.gov.scot/coronavirus-covid-19/ Josh Littlejohn, MBE, is founder and CEO of Social Bite, a social enterprise dedicated to helping end homelessness in Scotland 0 The Edinburgh-based charity Social Bite has a major goal to continue to tackle homelessness in Scotland and further afield