Ash Denham MSP has hailed Goodtrees Neighbourhood Centre as one of the Capital’s ‘lockdown local heroes’ after the tremendous efforts of young people, led by project manager John Beatson, ensured vulnerable families in the Moredun and surrounding areas were supported during the lockdown period.
The Edinburgh Eastern MSP recently visited Goodtrees to meet with some of the young people involved in the food delivery programme to praise their selflessness and to thank them for helping the community in its time of great need. During the lockdown, Goodtrees volunteers were delivering 500 food parcels per day to families and individuals of all ages.
At the beginning of the lockdown, Ms Denham had written to The Scottish Government which resulted in the Centre being able to secure in the region of £24,500 to fund their programme.
Speaking after the visit, the MSP said:“I have so much admiration for Goodtrees and the young people who volunteered their time during the lockdown to support families in the local community who were in need of help. While the lockdown was an extremely hard time for many people across the capital and the country, it was heartening to see the response from people in our communities, not least from Goodtrees.
“It was a pleasure to meet some of the young people involved and to praise them for their selfless efforts in helping so many. It was also great to talk to John Beatson, the Centre’s project manager, to hear about all the different additional ways they have been supporting people in the local community through zoom chats and online cooking classes.
“I was only too happy to write to The Scottish Government on the Centre’s behalf highlighting the importance of the programme they had put together and was pleased to see significant funding allocated to support the work of Goodtrees. I will continue to engage with John to do anything I can to support Goodtrees into the future.”
John Beatson, Project Manager at Goodtrees, said:“We are incredibly grateful to the ongoing support from Ash and her office. The funding enabled us to widen our support to so many families across the locality as well as our partnerships with Social Bite, Cyrenians and the local Morrisons meant that we were able to provide 40,000 packed lunches, over 15,000 bags of food & 10,000 hot meals.
“Of course, it goes without saying, with such a small team this wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work and commitment of our young people, who worked long hours to make sure we could maximise our reach. The real thanks goes to them, because without them this would not have been possible.”
Earlier this week Goodtrees announced a welcome injection of cash. John said then: “We’re delighted to have been awarded a grant of £63,057,00 per year from the BBC Children in Need Covid-19 Next Steps Programme.
“The project will bring support to the local community whilst having young people at the heart, supporting the programme whilst gaining accreditation through their involvement. It will also offer a unique opportunity for us to bring young people from all across the area together and involved them meaningfully and a platform to challenge territorial issues.”
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