Borders Housing and Care organisation the Eildon Group with support from Scottish Borders Council, has linked up with the homelessness charity Cyrenians (who act as the FareShare franchise for Central and South East Scotland) to collectively distribute much needed food supplies to foodbanks and community groups in the Scottish Borders.
The new distribution hub in Galashiels supports the excellent work already being undertaken by local organisations, such as food banks and resilience groups who are feeling the strain in the current climate.
The creation of the hub has involved many Eildon staff taking on additional new roles to help with the response. Kirsty Rodger, Eildon’s Corporate Services Manager is co-ordinating the food hub and she is supported in this role by Maintenance Officers Colin Playfair, Brian Learmonth and Davie Forster, Business Assurance Analyst, Geoff Hope and Administrative Assistant, Irina Juodeike.
Kirsty said: “Rural communities can often struggle to access support resources, however over the past few weeks since opening, we have picked up and distributed twenty van loads of food to localities across the region. While donations from the public and local supermarkets are generous, foodbanks struggle to meet demand, and this is made much harder for communities that are isolated from major towns and distribution links. The Eildon team have shifted literally tonnes of food and covered over 1500 miles to reach out to 14 organisations across the whole of the Borders region. We realise this is just scratching the surface, but it is encouraging to know we are playing a key part in helping to get much needed support to households across the Borders.”
If you are a charity or organisation that already distributes food to households in need, and feel you could benefit from linking in with this service, please contact: foodhub@eildon.org.uk
(Update provided by Eildon HA)
