Addressing food poverty in a sustainable way is the nub of what community food initiatives do, in supporting access to healthy affordable food and teaching food-related skills. Recently food banks have sprung up all over Scotland in response to need for emergency food aid. Many existing community food organisations have been part of this response and have been exploring how they can promote healthy eating habits while distributing food parcels. View our position statement on food poverty here.
As an anchor organisation with a wide range of volunteering activities, Moray Food Plus had to reconfigure much of their work for lockdown, and have found that their partnerships with other organisations have proved invaluable.
Read ‘Moray Food Plus – adapting to Covid-19’ hereShiona from West Lothian Council Health Improvement Team describes how the ‘Get Cooking’ programme can tailor what they offer to be as inclusive as possible. Their courses are often part of a wider programme of activities with the focus on education, raising awareness and building skills.
Read ‘Get Cooking – delivering cooking courses in West Lothian’ hereThis case study focuses on the challenges of sourcing low cost, healthy food for young families in the small rural village of Kelloholm. Working with FareShare, the Action for Children Family Centre families provides cooking courses and food deliveries.
Read ‘Action for Children – sourcing low cost, healthy food locally’ hereCFINE (Community Food Initiatives North East) offers a holistic community food and health service which includes supporting people with issues such as money, employment, energy costs and housing. This case study looks at how they use cooking groups to link people with other agencies who can help.
Read ‘CFINE – signposting support through cooking groups’ here
‘Get Cooking, Get Shopping’ courses focus on basic nutrition, food safety, cooking methods and recipes for people in the south of Glasgow. This case study looks at how they identify participants who may be struggling to have enough food, both before and during the courses.
Read ‘Get Cooking, Get Shopping – reaching people experiencing food insecurity’ here
‘For nobody to go hungry during a time of crisis in the Kirkcaldy area and for everybody to share what they can’ is the foodbank’s mission. It provides emergency food for people in need and support them to find longer-term solutions.
Read ‘Kirkcaldy Foodbank – emergency food and support’ hereSadly North Lanarkshire Food Aid closed because of a lack of funding. It supported people facing hardship and extreme food poverty. It used a range of co-ordinated interventions designed to deliver a more holistic and longer-term approach than food banks have historically been able to offer.
Read ‘North Lanarkshire Food Aid – a more holistic approach’ here
Highland Poverty Action Network – adapting to Covid-19
This case study looks at how MOO Food and Inverness Foodstuff from Highland Poverty Action Network reconfigured their work in response to Covid-19; and how NHS Highland is working with the network to plan recovery.
Read ‘Highland Poverty Action Network – adapting to Covid-19’ here