In the week where the BBC reported a record number of adults and children relied upon food banks in Scotland in December, I came across a group of children in Cowdenbeath who put aside fundraising for their Christmas activities to instead collect food for the local food bank.
The Trussell Trust who runs food banks across the Cowdenbeath constituency reported the highest numbers of people accessing emergency food parcels in their history of operating.
In Fife the numbers of people accessing help has risen by more than a quarter over the last six months.
The Cowdenbeath Majorettes normally hold an event at this time of year and raise funds that go towards Christmas festivities but this year they decided to focus on raising funds and gathering food for the food bank. It is brilliant that these youngsters have focussed on helping people less well off than themselves and I was so proud to join with them on Saturday when they handed over all the food they had collected.
The food bank in Cowdenbeath has supported over 250 people since it was set up as a satellite of the Dunfermline food bank and provides emergency food for people in crisis. There is also a food bank in operation in Crosshill, Rosyth and Inverkeithing and they are all run by local volunteers.
It is a tragedy that in 2015 we have the need for food banks but for all those people who give up their time to run them I say thank you and it must be so encouraging when we see all these local children making collecting food their priority for this year’s Christmas Fair.
