HEINEKEN Edinburgh Broadway Park

The Richmond Café Project was started by Richmond Craigmillar Church with the aim of creating a place where people could meet and enjoy low cost food. The Café (now called The Bristo Room) has recently been renovated and is open on Thursdays from 9:30am to 11am. On Thursdays the hall behind the café is open for Fair Share where people pay £5 and are able to pick up 15 items of food (From 10am to 11am) on the other side of the hall from Fair Share are Nearly New stalls with second hand clothes. Both Fair Share and the Nearly New are open to everyone in the community. These initiatives are based on recycling and reducing food waste. During the winter the Café is open at least once a week as a warm space with free soup served to all who come in. (Details on our Facebook page)

We at 'Meeting Needs' try to meet the needs of those who are in our community on a weekly basis who struggle financially. We do this by making up food parcels and boxes, and then have these delivered to those in our surrounding areas.. What premises does your project operate from? We do not operate from any premises as we do not store or retain food. All food are delivered on the day, or night that it is collected from the stores due to their "used by date". Our policy is straight from the store, straight to our recipients homes as we conduct a delivery service from store straight to homes. This ensures no one is hampered by having to travel to access the food. Our ethos is to eradicate all barriers that inhibits individuals from accessing food and that includes travel. We also eliminate the need to carry heavy bags of food back to their homes. Our motto is to provide a streamline service that enables our recipients to have an easier way of receiving food which greatly aids our more challenged individuals like the elderly and disabled. All of our collections are given to shelters, refuges and hostels and private homes. Other parties that benefit from us are single parent families, homeless, low income workers, as well as individuals who are on benefits. The elderly and the disabled and individuals who are in care homes who enjoy receiving our cakes, breads, and flowers. The users are identified by the need that they show and divulge to us, and the difficulties and challenges that they face in accessing food. We also supply clothing, household items which are sourced from other Charity organisations. Has there been local press or similar that demonstrates your organisation's work in the local community? We do not advertise the work that we do as a respect to the individuals that we serve as some of our recipients are classed as 'vulnerable' ie DV victims.

The Community One Stop Shop is based at 3 Broomhouse Market. It is a Scottish Charity that recognises the need for a local advice and information service, to compliment the work of other agencies and community based organisations that contribute to the quality of life for people living in the Broomhose, North Sighthill and neighbouring areas. Within the shop we have many services which allow us to run a ‘Food Bank Plus’ model. The food bank has existed here since 2012 and we are very proud of the system we have in place. The plus model means we go further than the simple distribution of food to those in crisis in the local area. Within the shop we also have an Employability worker and a Citizens Advice worker who can be accessed by appointment or at our weekly drop-ins. Having these qualified professionals on site allows those in crisis to gain the support and the tools to improve their lives for themselves. The food bank allows for both referrals from outside services and for individuals to self-refer from the local community. If self-referred you will be asked a few questions so we can get a bit of insight in to the person’s life. Once we do that we will provide three days’ worth of food for the client and their family. If through the interview we can discover a way our other services can benefit the client’s situation we will organise an appointment. We have a referral system set up from many other projects including; Young Carers, Broomhouse Young Carers, Wester Hailes Youth Agency, Social Care Direct, Housing Association and the Y People, amongst others. Many of those projects are based outside the local area but we are more than willing to support referred clients from anywhere. Many of those referral agencies support the youngest, most vulnerable members of our society. The ‘Y People’ is a young person’s homeless accommodation who we have a great working relationship with. The food bank is seeing around 90 to 100 people a month at the moment and is need of regular donations to cope with need from the local area and beyond. Our employability worker Evelyn offers support and guidance with interview techniques, CV writing, online job searches and anything else in the field of job attainment. We also organise computer based training from external sources. This sector of COSS is crucial and we expect it to grow in the coming months and years. Our Citizens Advice worker Ruth offers advice, information and practical assistance on a range of topics. Be it debt issues, housing, benefits, education legal rights or immigration amongst many others. Furthermore we have an outreach worker in once a week to provide advice solely on on benefits and another who provides a ‘rent surgery’ which supports local tenants with rent issues. Lastly we have recently became a C card service to give local people over 16 free contraception. This is another example of our project reacting to the needs of the local community.