Last week the Scottish Government announced £900,000 of funding to help projects across the country in the next two years tackle food poverty.
This is part of the Fair Food Transformation Fund which will reduce reliance on food banks by establishing more sustainable approaches.
One of the organisations which got a share of the funding is local charity, Dr Bell’s Family Centre in Leith, which runs a creche alongside a café (with free wifi!). They run cooking classes there as well as offering wonderful food for their patrons. Here is what they had on the menu on Tuesday.
Last year their funding from the council was cut by almost half, meaning that they had to stop two outreach creches and make the sessional workers redundant. This makes the funding announcement even more welcome.
The Edinburgh Reporter spoke to Fiona Clark who is the Centre Manager. Fiona explained to us that the funding is much needed as they are a local charity which means they cannot apply for national funding, making them dependent on local support. However their very local nature means they are very efficient and they work to support 300 families a year for only £220,000.
Dr Bell’s Family Centre are delighted to have received @scotgov funding to address food poverty pic.twitter.com/xXk1lperQp
— Edinburgh Reporter (@EdinReporter) September 14, 2016
Their work is carefully planned to build trust and relationships with parents thus empowering them throughout the process, but at the same time the centre works with the whole family who then have quick and seamless access to other local services. Working with families who need it most the statistic that Fiona quoted to us was that 80% of the families they assist live in 20% of the most deprived areas.
Anyone is welcome at Dr Bell’s, and families can self refer themselves for assistance.
More information about their work is available on their website.
Other Edinburgh projects which are also receiving a share of the fund include the Cyrenians, Granton Community Gardeners, Pilmeny Development Project and Pilton Community Health Project.
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