City haven has food and friendship on the menu
Big Issue seller Daniel Mackenzie is looking forward to tucking into a three-course meal.
Homemade lentil soup followed by pasta with vegetable sauce and then chocolate bananas for dessert is on the menu at the drop-in centre and cafe run by Inverness Foodstuff.
Set up a year ago, the church and community-led project aims to tackle food poverty and loneliness among homeless and other people in need by providing tasty, nutritious and hot meals twice a week at the city’s Ness Bank Church hall.
Mr Mackenzie, a single 36-year-old, is one of the regulars. Technically homeless, he lives with a succession of friends.
"I come here twice a week – Tuesdays and Thursdays are the only days I get a hot meal," he said. "There should be more places like this in Inverness."
The meals are cooked and served by an enthusiastic group of volunteers who come from all over Inverness and beyond.
Where possible, they use surplus food donated by local retailers Swansons, Booker, Highland Wholefoods and Harry Gow while national companies Morrisons and Marks and Spencer have recently agreed to support it too.
Ivan Warwick, the project co-ordinator, stressed that Inverness Foodstuff aimed to be more than a soup kitchen. The idea is to build a community where people can receive a warm welcome and a friendly chat as well as support and encouragement to get involved in the project themselves.
"I think over the past year, it has exceeded our expectations," he said. "We usually get 25 to 35 people."
For the first six months, the meals were cooked in the church hall kitchen and then transported to the Manna House cafe in Huntly Street on the opposite side of the river. But for the last six months they have been served in the church hall.
"Previously, there was no real relationship between those working in the kitchen and the participants as the food was being cooked here and then taken away elsewhere," Mr Ward said.
"Now, there is more of a mix of people and a real buzz about the place. The Manna House never really became anything more than a cafe with people dining by themselves at their own table."
It has also enabled the project to work with other organisations such as Merkinch Partnership and Highland Council’s employability service. Computers and personal help are available at the sessions for people wanting help with computer skills and job applications as well as being able to check emails or get information online.
The Thursday sessions also include arts and craft activities thanks to a grant from the Central ward discretionary fund.
They are run by Caroline Snow, an employability tutor with Merkinch Partnership, who also takes the chance to enjoy a cooked lunch. "There is a great atmosphere here and there are lots of positive outcomes," said Ms Snow, who has also been affected by some of the personal stories.
"I was talking to one chap who was a really clever businessman who told me he had ended up homeless. You soon realise how your circumstances can change."
Volunteer Helen McGilp, of Balloch, has been involved with the project from its inception. "I think it shows a great need in Inverness for a facility like this where people go and get a hot meal whether they are vulnerable or homeless," she said.
"Some people come here week after week. Some people come just the once and may just be passing through.
"I love it here. I like cooking and I like people — and I particularly like the green ethic in that it uses surplus from suppliers."
Rev Fiona Smith, minister of Ness Bank Church and chairwoman of the project’s board of trustees, said: "We are indebted to the large number of people from our community who freely give their time to help and support those who are homeless and in need in our city as well as to the retailers who are donating food.
"Inverness Foodstuff is growing into a vibrant community and is walking alongside people who have immensely complicated issues in their lives."
