Lidl Lanark - Braidfute Retail Pk

Our school has a nursery class and 6 primary classes. We currently have 28% of our children living in SIMD 1&2 and 24% in receipt of Free School Meals. However, we are becoming more aware of the fact that these are not necessarily the most accurate measures of what families are living in poverty. We are concerned about the rising cost of living and the impact we will see during the winter when energy costs are increased again. There is a local foodbank, but it is not in Carnwath and therefore makes it difficult for our families to access. We have an established 'sharing shed' within the school that we will keep stocked with basic food and household items. The idea would be that parents and other members of the community can visit the shed to donate or to take what they need. We are keen to facilitate a real opportunity for our community to support everyone in it as and when the support is required. We work closely with the local Community Council to support everyone that needs it in Carnwath.

Homeless Project Scotland is a fledgling charity, set up in October 2019 by a handful of volunteers that wanted to give homeless people on the streets  of our towns and cities hot drinks and food during the harsh winter nights. Initially we set out with backpacks of flasks and sandwiches walking the streets of Glasgow and Edinburgh to ensure that anyone found struggling was able at least to get a hot drink and something to eat. Within a short period of time, we managed to recruit a team of volunteers who began to distribute a selection of food, essential toiletries and warm clothes.  We were  fortunate to enlist the support from major companies such as Aldi, Asda, Tesco, Morrisons and Marks & Spencer, who have kindly donated supplies of food which we collect  during the day and then distribute to homeless shelters throughout Glasgow, Edinburgh and Lanarkshire in the evenings. Recently we were generously given free use of a van from Arnold  Clark which has enabled us to increase our collections and deliveries. Within six months we also managed to buy and renovate an old trailer which we use to provide a soup kitchen in Glasgow city centre three nights a week. The Covid-19 crisis has forced us off the streets and we have adapted our services to continue to support the homeless and vulnerable by providing home-cooked meals prepared by our volunteers , which we deliver weekly to homeless projects around Glasgow and Lanarkshire. 2,500 Weekly. A grant from Foundation Scotland has enabled us to set up a 24 hour telephone helpline. Cash for kids have provided funding  for food parcels, top up cards for utilities and mobile phones. We have also been able to provide mobile phones to the most vulnerable allowing them to access help and support services.  A grant from the William Grant Foundation has made it possible  to purchase office equipment, enabling us to  improve and expand our services to an ever increasing client base. By July 2020 We  have provided 2500 meals weekly to the homeless and vulnerable.   http://www.homelessprojectscotland.org/our-story/

We are based at Lanark Family Support Hub, North Vennel Lanark. We work with all families who access our services and welcome referrals from other agencies and services as well as self-referrals from individuals and families. We have a no wrong door approach. We can offer support to children and families through providing 1 to 1 individual support and also offer group work for parents focusing on healthy eating/cooking, child development, health and well-being and family learning. We offer a whole variety of programmes which include family learning, individual family support, programmes to support with managing children's challenging behaviour, cooking groups, programmes for parents and children and health and well-being groups. We do not charge service users to access any of our supports, services or groups. Food will be given to vulnerable families that we work with who are experiencing poverty and cost of living crisis. This will be given out when doing home visits. Food will be accessible to vulnerable families and young people who are using the hub for 1:1 support and group work. Food may also be used during groupwork to demonstrate healthy cooking on a budget. We will be working with about 100 families on a weekly basis.