As the Thriving Places community anchor for the area, New Gorbals Housing Association is in a unique position to respond to the needs of the Gorbals community.

We have been working with our partners at Glasgow South East Foodbank and the Clutha Trust to provide emergency food parcels to people in our area. Over the last three months, we have delivered over 1400 parcels to those who are feeling the strain of the Coronavirus pandemic due to isolation or financial worries.

We have also:

  • delivered 110 prescriptions;
  • successfully helped families apply for Cash For Kids vouchers to support 163 young people;
  • made 2760 welfare calls to our tenants;
  • joined the Gorbals Response Group for Covid-19, working with partners to deliver services and share information; and
  • supplied over 650 breakfast packs to households who would normally benefit from our suspended community breakfast sessions.

More recently we teamed up with Social Bite to help our tenants in assisted living accommodation. Since May, Social Bite have provided hot meals for 80 of our tenants twice a week, amounting to over 900 meals.

We’re proud of what we and our partners have achieved so far, but we’re determined to do more. We successfully applied to the Scottish Government’s Supporting Communities Fund for £140,000 to aid the Coronavirus response within the Gorbals. As well as helping us to sustain our current work, this funding will open up further opportunities to help us tackle key issues like social isolation, fuel poverty and digital exclusion.

A wide range of projects from local voluntary organisations have benefited from this funding, providing online activity sessions for young children, free lunches for young people, family dinner kits, support for 92 BAME families from DAWSUN (Diaspora African Women’s Support Network), and projects to connect with older people through music.

In addition to the crucial work around food poverty, we also aimed to lift spirits and bring community members together by hosting a virtual Gorbals Summer Fair. Over 600 people joined in with activities on Facebook, and more enjoyed the live performance of the Saint Francis Pipe Band as they paraded through Gorbals neighbourhoods.

(Update provided by New Gorbals HA)