CCG continue the food delivery and will hold several more big events in 2017
According to the Scottish Indicator of Multiple Deprivation, an estimated 46.3% of families in Pollok live in poverty.
This also accounts for food poverty which can be defined as when an individual or household cannot obtain or does not have access to healthy and nutritious food, thus they consume too little food or eat unhealthy foods due to a lack of financial ability.
The spectrum for this is broad and can include low income households, unemployed individuals, single parents, individuals with a disability, the elderly, isolated/ single individuals, refugees / asylum seekers, those who have been made redundant , those who struggle with the rising cost of living.
As an organisation that has successfully run a food bank for over 4 years, we aim to assist such groups of people within our community.
Through the Scottish Government's Fair Food Transformation Fund, the Crookston Community Group are delivering a project entitled 'My Food', where we will aim to help local communities to be food secure and have access to healthy, nutritious food without the need for emergency food aid.
The project will provide a dignified response to food poverty and help individuals/families transition away from the dependency of food banks as a primary response to food poverty.
Throughout the duration of the project, the CCG will endeavour to meet 4 key outcomes. These are:
Those currently receiving food parcels to be independent of food banks
Those currently receiving food parcels to feel less isolated, desperate and hopeless
Those receiving food parcels empowered to make changes in their own lives and
Those receiving food parcels to have greater self esteem and confidence to be healthier; mentally, physically and emotionally.
To achieve these outcomes, the CCG will:
Promote the social value of food and offering opportunities for people to share and learn new skills.
This is done through teaching service users how to plan and cook healthy meals without wastage as well as to budget and shop smart. Through this interaction, we encourage participants to communicate with other members of their communities to share healthy, affordable and delicious multi-cultural recipes.
We hold a weekly 'Cooking and Dining Together' classes each Thursday from our offices on Beltrees Road. This consists of a demonstration of how to create a healthy dish from fresh and affordable ingredients. Once the meal has been cooked, everyone present sits down to share the meal. They each leave with a recipe card as well as information on how much this dish cost to make per head / portion, to enable them to understand how to budget and shop smart as well as cook!
These recipe cards are also included in our food parcels distributed at the weekly CCG food bank as well as our crisis referral food parcels from our offices.
In addition to this, recipes, videos and photographs of all food made is regularly uploaded to our social media platforms for those unable to make it along to the class on a Thursday.
Here at the CCG, we believe that nothing brings people together the way food does, so to further promote the social value that food holds, we regularly hold lunches to mark specific occasions, where we can incorporate the work of our project by bringing the community together.
Most notably, the CCG held a Fair Food Transformation International Women's Day event, where members of other organisations and local community were in attendance and the ethos of the project was promoted via a discussion surrounding the issues we aim to tackle. This was then followed by a 3 course lunch prepared on a budget per head.
A Fair Food Transformation Mother's Day Luncheon was also held and in attendance were local mothers as well as some youngsters whom simply wished to find out how to make a delicious Mother's Day meal for their mothers on Mothering Sunday.
During Easter, as children were on holiday from school, a Fair Food Easter Open Day was delivered to educate local children on our work to reduce food poverty and help those in need. Again, children were taught the value of healthy and affordable food in a fun filled and interactive setting, where they would retain information rather than a classroom setting.
Most recently, a Fair Food Transformation Children's lunch was delivered. Children from local schools were invited to the CCG to learn about food poverty and the My Food programme. After a short discussion, the children were encouraged to create their own healthy menu, taking into consideration, the financial aspect to this, with the winning menu selected and cooked for the children at the next event in which they will be present. A lunch station was set up for the children after this activity, where they were encouraged to make their own toasties and paninis through choosing of fillings etc.
The CCG continue this delivery and will hold several more big events to mark notable days.
To ensure that our efforts are making a difference, we regularly monitor and evaluate the progress we are making, and this serves as an evidence base through which we can offer sustainable solutions to move beyond the dependency on food aid.
Over the course of the project, we aim to help a minimum of 75 individuals or families be less dependent on food banks through our interventions.
For this purpose, we have put together a project committee consisting of our Local MP, MSP, board members and project staff members whom will regularly meet to discuss progress of the project and discuss points for improvement etc, where and as required.
