Rise in number of meals served at Inverness Foodstuff amid cost of living crisis
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An Inverness project tackling food poverty and social isolation has seen another annual rise in the number of meals it has served.
Inverness Foodstuff provides food, friendship and support for those facing significant challenges including financial hardship and homelessness.
As well as providing three course lunches three days a week at Ness Bank Church, it also started operating in Hilton two days a week in September.
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During 2023, it served 11,141 lunches – an increase of 25 per cent from the previous year – and also continues to see daily records broken.
But it has been buoyed by the support of local people including pupils from Charleston Academy who championed the charity to win £3000.
Customers at the Inverness branch of supermarket Morrison also donated £8068 – more than any other Morrison store in a UK-wide Christmas charity fundraising campaign.
Inverness Foodstuff operations manager Pam Urquhart was "blown away" by the donation.
"At Inverness Foodstuff, we continue to see the ongoing impact the cost-living crisis is having on individuals and families as they struggle to afford essentials like food and heating," she said .
"Inverness Foodstuff is currently providing over 1100 lunches every month and we continue to see new faces every week.
"Where possible we use donated surplus supermarket food for our tasty, nutritious lunches.
"However, we do need to buy store cupboard ingredients and having £8068 to spend in Morrisons means we will be able to buy all we need to meet the ongoing high demand for our services."
Kylie Omand, community champion in Morrisons’ Millburn Road store chose Inverness Foodstuff as the local charity to benefit from Morrisons Christmas Giving Tree campaign.
It is run is across the UK and aims to support local charities tackle food poverty by encouraging customers to make donations which are given to chosen local charities as vouchers to spend in Morrisons.
Stuart Black, chairman of Inverness Foodstuff, thanked customers for their kindness and also paid tribute to Kylie and the checkout staff who took the time and trouble to ask for donations despite it being their busiest time of year.
"This really is an amazing amount for Morrison’s customers to have donated at a time when many in our community are struggling financially," he said.
The Charleston Academy pupils won their £3000 donation through the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) Scotland, a student-led programme which encourages young people to make a difference in their communities while developing a range of skills.
Young people in each school choose a local charity they want to champion and develop a presentation which highlights the social issues the charity is addressing.
All S3 at Charleston Academy took part and the process started in October when charities were invited to the school.
Three groups, which chose Inverness Foodstuff, visited Inverness Foodstuff in the following weeks.
Dave Kemp, Inverness Foodstuff trustee and volunteer said: "We were very impressed with all three groups, all were very engaged and interested in the work we do.
"However, we were particularly impressed with the group that went on to win.
"They had clearly researched Inverness Foodstuff before the visit, had a clear plan of action of how they would deliver their presentation which included video interviews, came prepared with well researched, thoughtful questions and followed up with more questions after the visit."
He said the funding won by the group would help to meet the ongoing high demand for the services.
Headteacher, Michael Aitchison said the judges were unanimous following the "excellent" presentation put forward by pupils Bastian Bernhard, Danny Brindle, Alexander Forbes, Owen MacLeod and Sam Meier.
"They were very worthy winners," he said. "We are very proud of their achievements and delighted Inverness Foodstuff is to benefit from their hard work and efforts."
During 2023, Inverness Foodstuff served 9535 three-course lunches at Ness Bank Church where it operates on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
The average number of lunches provided per session was 62 but on January 25, it provided 89 lunches.
Since September, it has provided 1606 meals at Hilton where it operates on Wednesdays and Fridays. The average number per session is 50 including takeaways but the highest daily total is 68 lunches on November 22.
