M&S Paisley

GALA Ministry aims to promote love, nurture fellowship, and foster unity among families in Paisley. Through our welcome, worship, and community initiatives, we reflect the love we preach to humanity and the world. Our goal is to share God's love practically, serve those in need, restore dignity, and revive hope, with our support available at no cost to everyone in the community. Our project, ‘We Care Initiative’, offers free food to all who attend, along with a listening ear and support. Our mission is to redistribute food donations and promote food waste reduction for environmental and social good. In addition to serving refreshments on Sunday mornings, our team of volunteers works diligently behind the scenes to provide weekly grocery parcels from the food donations, which include tinned foods, cereals, cupboard essentials, and other non-perishable items to families facing financial hardship, socio-economic deprivation, and anyone else in need. The Food Bank team, alongside our Hospitality/Welfare team, goes the extra mile to identify people in dire need, particularly families with children, and refer them for priority support. We understand what it means to be in need without hope for tomorrow; that is why we do not judge anyone or apportion blame, but seek creative and sustainable ways to put smiles on people’s faces. We believe no one should go hungry. We support the less privileged and homeless in our community, including the elderly, the vulnerable, and those on low incomes, providing food when necessary and donating other cupboard essentials, toiletries, clothing, and bedding wherever help is needed. The area in which we work is ranked among the 10% most deprived regions in Scotland. We mentor the families we engage with to lead by example and be the change they want to see in the community, while also encouraging them to live sustainably and promoting broader actions to mitigate climate change and protect our planet, as we are all stewards of nature. We signpost people to appropriate agencies to get help, and also engage in activities that seek to support people in improving their situation and seeing them lift themselves out of poverty.

Renfrewshire Women's Aid was established in 1987 in the east end of Paisley. We are a registered, incorporated charity run by women for women. We moved offices in May 2022 to Moss Street in Paisley, a more central location, where we offer information, support, advocacy and safe accommodation (where appropriate) to women, children & young people who experience domestic abuse. Domestic abuse can take many forms; it can be physical (hitting, slapping, punching, kicking, stabbing, throttling), psychological (name calling, isolating from family and friends, threatening, or threatening to harm children or pets), sexual (rape, anal rape, being forced to carry out sexual acts), financial (keeping control of money, dictating household budgets, taking earnings), racial (forced marriage, female genital mutilation, honour based violence) & emotional abuse which, arguably goes with any other form of abuse. We have 19 independent flats (14 are in refuge accommodation and 5 are scatter flat accommodation) in Renfrewshire. This offers safe, confidential accommodation for women and their children if it becomes unsafe to remain in their own home as a result of domestic abuse. All of our accommodation addresses are confidential- women's address becomes c/o Renfrewshire Women's Aid office. Women are supported from the point of contact through her journey to recover from her experience of domestic abuse, whether that bed an office based support: face to face, on the phone, via email or contact through social media. Support is service user led and can be anything from a single call/appointment/drop in or a lengthier, more intense support. Whether women take the option to take up accommodation or not the service is completely confidential unless a disclosure is made that someone is at risk. Renfrewshire Women's Aid also provides information, support, and advocacy to children and young people. There are refuge-based children's workers to support children and young people living with their mum in our accommodation and an outreach worker who provides support generally in school to children and young people irrespective of whether their mum is accessing a service. We are proud to be a recipient of the food redistribution service through Neighbourly. Regular food donations from Lidl have enabled us to provide women, children, and young people with staple foods during times of crisis. We have received grants for children and young people, which has helped families. We were delighted to be part of a Toy Donation at Christmas. Customers in Lidl donated toys and other gifts that enabled us to distribute much needed help at a time which can be difficult, especially for children. For some women and their children, it has meant their first Christmas experienced without shouting, violence, and fear. We have been fortunate to be part of this scheme, reducing food waste and assisting families in need.

As long as our Armed Forces are in use there will be a need for Erskine to care. 2021 is a very exciting time at Erskine as we have our Activity Centre re-opening where Veterans can come for the day to learn new skills such as wood working and IT skills; relax with our Holistic Therapist; learn new ways of coping with Combat Stress and PTSD with our Mentors or speak to Benefits Advisors and learn how to keep well with Nutrition Worskshops. (or simply socialise and get involved in Tri-Service dominoes and pool tournaments!) We are in the process of moving younger Veterans into our Erskine Transitional Support Apartments to assist them with the transition from military life to "civvy" life. We will look after them for a period of up to 24 months and help them find the "tools" they need to eventually settle into whatever part of the country they wish to permanently reside. Of course alongside all of these developments we will always care for our Veterans who live in our Homes in Glasgow's West End, Bishopton and Edinburgh. Our dedicated Nursing, Care, Activities and Physiotherapy teams work tirelessly to ensure that our Veterans have the best possible quality of life for as long as possible. They served for us, now it's our turn to serve them.