Couple pay food banks heating bills to help them run warm hub

It comes as the cost-of-living crisis has made it difficult for many households to pay their eletricity bills.

The kind anonymous pair personally forked out to help Old Kilpatrick Food Parcels offer the community a warm free space.

They covered the October, November, and December bills after finding out the charity could only keep their heating on for an hour a day.

Boss Maureen Cummings, 55, said there are “no words” to share how grateful she is for the generosity and is “surprised everyday” by good Samaritans who help the food bank.

She told the Glasgow Times: “The service can bring out the best in people, we had a couple in at the end of September who were blown away by the warm hub idea.

“I told them I need to time my heaters for about an hour a day and only if it was busy enough, which they were really sorry to hear.

“They came back the following week and said we want to pay our electricity bills from October to December. I couldn’t believe it.

“The last bill was more than £400 for just one month but they insisted and want to remain anonymous.

“I also had elderly people offer to share their winter help allowance to make bills easier to pay.

“There isn’t a word for what it means to us, I am in here every day and constantly surprised by people’s generosity.”

Maureen set up Old Kilpatrick Food Parcels to help vulnerable people in her community during lockdown.

She hopes to break the stigma of using food banks after creating an open floor plan which means people don’t have to queue up for donations.

Instead, they can shop in the pantry and take items from shelves like they would in a supermarket.

Maureen also created a community cafe across from the food bank where nothing has a price, meaning people can enjoy a hot meal and warm space.

She explained: “We want to take away the stigma of using a food bank, I don’t want people to feel embarrassed by it.

“It was a deliberate decision to make it a nice big community space that's why it is open plan.

“At first people thought it wouldn’t work, they believed people wouldn’t want to shop in the food bank with people in the cafe looking at them.

“It isn’t like that at all, there's no judgment here which makes it much easier to ask for help.

“People come in and really take their time, they can spend at least an hour and the tables are always full.

“That sadly does mean there is a bigger demand for the service, we went from helping 61 families in January to over 500 in October.

“We haven’t refused anyone food yet, it doesn't matter how much money you have, you can’t buy anything here.

“We rely on donations so we don’t have a price list in the pantry or in the cafe.”

Maureen gives out around 10,000 items of stock each month and relies on the generosity of others to replenish it.

She is urging people to donate a variety of items and think “what would you like yourself”.

She said: “People can be quite ignorant of the type of food banks need.

“It is just regular working families who are struggling to make it to payday, but that doesn’t mean all they should get is pasta and sauce.

“They still drink tea and coffee, they still need shampoo and stuff to wash their clothes. People don’t always think to donate this kind of stuff.

“We just ask people to ask what do you like yourself? why not donate biscuits for someone's tea or treats as well.”

Maureen said instant food like Pot Noodles and Cheesy Pasta can be like “gold dust” as they are easy to make.

She also said desserts are rare but are encouraged especially over the festive season.

She added: “Instant foods and gold dust because we for one reason or another people relying on our service might not have great cooking facilities.

“Things like pot noodles, cheesy pasta, jam, and bread are all great.

“We have three fridges and two chest freezers so sometimes people do Iceland shops for us which is absolutely fabulous.

“We also always look for pet donations as we feed over 400 animals a month.

“Cash is helpful as well because we can decide what to spend it on by checking what we are low on.”

You can donate to Old Kilpatrick Food Parcels by visiting their social media pages or their Amazon Wishlist available here.

You can also pay their Pay Pal here contact@okfp.org.uk

Bank on Us: Supporting those in need in Glasgow

The Glasgow Times have also launched our food bank campaign with the aim to ensure that our most vulnerable families across Glasgow have more support this Christmas.

Latest figures revealed that almost 200,000 food bank parcels were provided to people across Scotland in one year.

The Trussell Trust’s network of banks handed out 197,000 food packages in Scotland during the 12 months before March 2022.

People across Glasgow are being affected by the most severe economic crisis in a generation.

The Bank on Us Food Appeal is calling on Glaswegians to donate to food banks to help those who are facing an uncertain festive period due to the cost-of-living crisis.