Inverness cafe to facilitate access to showers at High Life Highland and laundry services for the homeless thanks to local school
A charity cafe is offering homeless people access to showers and laundry facilities thanks to a local school.
The Bridge School participated in Youth and Philanthropy Initiative Scotland, which saw them acquire a £3000 cheque to give to a charity of their choice.
The pupils selected Cafe 1668 on Church Street, which provides free meals to those in need and offers a food bank.
The money is now being used to provide vouchers to those who need them so they can do their laundry at Molly’s Laundry on Academy Street or get a shower at the Leisure Centre.
Val Cooper, Cafe 1668 manager said: “It was so lovely of The Bridge to select us as their charity of choice.
“The made a successful bid and we are so grateful to them as this will make such a difference.
“We are seeing more and more people at the moment who don’t have access to showers.”
Val was able to connect with Molly’s Laundry and people will be able to collect vouchers at Cafe 1668 to then go and do their washing.
They have also coordinated with High Life Highland who will open their doors for people to use the showers on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Graeme Ross, head of leisure at High Life Highland said: “At High Life Highland, our key aim is making life better and we try to do this in any way we can.
“So we are very happy to support Café 1668 and the valuable work it is doing to support those people who need some extra help.”
This vital funding comes at a time when Cafe 1668 is seeing a bigger demand for its services.
It is now providing 60 meals three times per week; last year, the number was 40.
Val said: “We have more and more people and we can’t keep food on the shelves at the moment.
“We’ve seen lots of new faces and many people are just needing help to make ends meet.”
The cafe operates through paying customers, whose purchases sustain the charity to be able to feed others for free.
Over summer, they saw lots of support from tourists which provided a boost.
They are now encouraging others to come in to allow them to keep running the much-needed service.
Michael (43) who works as a volunteer at the cafe explained: “There was a tourist who came in and their bill came to £16. They then said to add £100 on to the bill, which is incredible.
“Being able to provide showers to people is good.
“There are many people who live in tents and don’t have access.
“For me working here is rewarding and there is lots of support.”