Dalbeattie Food Bank has been handed a funding boost.
The town’s Rotary Club has agreed to provide £2,000 a year for the next three years following a recent talk from food bank manager Donna McKnight.
Donna outlined the history of the development of the food bank which was launched in 2020 to support families affected by the Covid lockdown.
For the following two years it operated through the Castle Douglas partnership of Stepping Stones but at the start of July the link was severed and it now runs under the wing of Dalbeattie Initiative out of its High Street office.
There is no stereotypical client: services are on offer for young families, older retired people, those who have been furloughed or have lost their jobs and those on long term benefits.
It provides a collect or delivery service four days per week as well as having a 24 hour emergency helpline.
Packages are tailored to the size and needs of a family group with each package intended to cover requirements for four days.
Over and above the core provision, it also runs targeted initiatives such as last year’s Christmas project which saw full Christmas dinners being provided for 28 adults and seven children.
There is also the kids summer lunch programme which provides lunch to children three days a week over the summer holiday period.
Donna and her team are keen to provide more than a crisis-only service.
They are taking steps to support individuals and families with a follow through programme which will provide advice and support in areas such as financial planning, budgeting and healthy eating with the intention of trying to lift clients out of the cycle of deprivation to which they can be prey.
Future planning is based on an anticipation of having to supply in the region 2,000 food packages per year with an overall project cost of £37,500. However, recent pressures on family budgets could mean greater numbers coming forward to access the services of the food bank.
There are deserving people in the community who still find it difficult to bring themselves to a food bank and staff are making every effort to encourage those who are struggling to come forward in the knowledge that, while confidentiality is paramount, there is no embarrassment attached to using a food bank.
It all represents a considerable challenge in terms both of sourcing financial support and food donations.
The project relies heavily on the generosity of the local community and shops for financial support and food donations.
To this is now added the £2,000 per year undertaking from the Rotary Club, which also hopes to be able to recruit some of its own members to the current team of 13 volunteers who arrange and distribute the packages.
