Dumbarton Foodshare: ‘Your help has been absolutely vital’

West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare (WDCF) has faced a huge battle to maintain its support to people in the area during the pandemic – most notably because of restrictions which required the charity to close its regular distribution centres and which saw almost all of its volunteers forced to stop helping the organisation.

But as people locally and across the UK reflect today (Tuesday) on the one-year anniversary of the country’s first nationwide Covid-19 lockdown, the charity’s trustees have paid tribute to everyone who has helped keep those essential supply lines open during that time – and have ensured there is still help available for the families in the area who need it most.

Trustee Clair Coyle, speaking on behalf of all WDCF’s trustees, said: “When we closed the doors of our distribution centres on March 20, 2020, we did not imagine that one year later they would still be closed.

“Moving to a new system of home delivery of emergency food parcels was initially very challenging as our team of four staff and 110 volunteers dropped to four staff and two volunteers.

“Working from only our storage base in Dumbarton meant we had to keep numbers small to allow for social distancing and safety.

“We faced many obstacles in moving to this new system including a drop in food donations due to our donators not accessing the shops as they previously did, difficulties for us bulk-buying from supermarkets, raising awareness to anyone affected by poverty on how to access the service and how we would transport the parcels to resident’s homes.

“With the telephone ringing constantly with people requiring support, we had to move quickly to resolve these issues.”

Help was supplied by a host of public bodies and private companies, who stepped up to plug the gap left by the closure of the distribution centres and the almost complete loss of the charity’s volunteer team, while members of the public helped to spread the word via social media.

“Over the last eight years, the Community Payback team has provided the charity with support on a Thursday and Friday, moving food to our distribution centres.

“Thankfully, the wonderful management and supervisors agreed to work with us four days a week to deliver the food parcels.

"Their support over the last year has been tremendous and we could not have provided this service without their help.

“Local British Gas workers, Auchentoshan Distillery, taxi drivers and volunteers stepped in to help with deliveries when the number of households seeking support peaked at 300 per week over the spring and summer.

“Having these additional workers transport deliveries ensured that support reached everyone in need.

“We will be eternally grateful to everyone who came along and helped out.”

Clair said the number of people affected by poverty and seeking support from WDCF rose by 48 per cent during the lockdown, but that worries about not having enough donated food to meet the increased demand thankfully proved unfounded.

“We placed an appeal on our Facebook page,” she continued, “and within days, many local people, groups, businesses and organisations got in touch, organising fund-raising activities and donating food and money for us to buy food supplies.

“We contacted local supermarkets, who pulled out all the stops to ensure we were able to bulk-buy food as needed, with many workers going that extra mile to help us.

“With many more local people now affected by poverty and food insecurity due to losing jobs or receiving reduced income, we had to ensure people knew how to seek support.

“We had great support from local newspapers and organisations who ran our stories and shared our social media posts, placed posters at our distribution centres and local shops, and asked everyone to spread the word.”

In response to the requirement for people at greatest risk from Covid to shield at home, and for those required to self-isolate because they or a member of their household tested positive, a new initiative – the West Dunbartonshire Food Insecurity Team – was set up, funded by the Scottish Government and comprising WDCF, Food for Thought, and West Dunbartonshire Council’s crisis team and Working 4U department to ensure anyone unable to get access to food received a delivery.

WDCF’s distribution centres briefly reopened in August, but November saw a return to home delivery as Covid restrictions were changed once again.

But the onset of winter created another major challenge for the charity, as it looked to deliver its annual Christmas Toybank initiative under pandemic restrictions for the first time.

“The council kindly agreed for us to use an additional storage unit which allowed us to bring a few more volunteers in to work,” Clair added.

“We worried that donations of toys would be much less than previous years and the requests for support from families would be much higher.

“This worry was soon alleviated as the sheer number of people, schools, nurseries, groups and businesses pledging support was staggering.

“We cannot praise enough the kindness and generosity of the people of West Dunbartonshire, whose donations enabled us to provide gifts and toys to 965 local children who could have otherwise received no gifts at Christmas.”

The charity’s other projects – a school uniform bank, a school holiday ‘brunch bag’ scheme, a fuel poverty bank and a baby bank, have also been able to continue after staff and volunteers stepped up to the mark.

And despite the enormous challenges they’ve faced throughout the past year, the charity’s core food bank service hasn’t just survived – it’s expanded, too.

“In March 2020, we were providing a four-day food parcel,” Clair continued.

“With the support we have received from the community, as well as staff undertaking lots of funding applications, we are now providing between five and seven days of food in each parcel, ensuring more fresh food, meats, dairy and fruit and vegetables are included.

“Over the last year, we have worked very closely with a range of local support and advice agencies to ensure that anyone getting in touch received a tailored package of support.

“It is important that anyone affected by food insecurity is equipped with the tools to help them move out of poverty.

“Through increasing signposting and direct referrals, we have linked people with the correct services to help them resolve issues causing poverty.

“We would like to thank everyone who has donated and supported the charity over the last year, as the difference that your kindness has made to others less fortunate is just wonderful.”