We are a locally run charity who deliver a mobility scooter, manual and powered wheelchair service to residents of the West Dunbartonshire and surrounding areas. By allowing individuals with mobility issues to get in and around the shopping centre, to shop, meet up with friends, or just go for a coffee. allowing individuals to feel part of their community.

We deliver a drop off and pick up service of the scooters and wheelchairs whereby our members can call the shop when they have arrived at the shopping centre and with the help of our staff/volunteers, we will deliver the equipment requested. The service is situated within the shopping centre the staff/volunteers can meet you at the car parks, bus stop, train station or taxi ranks.

We would like to apply for £1000 to get our service users who are aged  65 and over and suffer with food insecuriy in West Dunbartonshire, the help with food vouchers from Farmfoods. This will allow our service users to buy sufficient food for themselves as we know a lot of them are struggling with the cost of living crisis. We would also like £500 to go towards admin costs.

£500 for Food Vouchers 

£500 for Admin Costs 

We are applying for funding to help towards our utility costs over the colder months when our bills are at an all time high. We run a food pantry, community cafe, warm hub and laundry service to vulnerable families who are struggling in financial hardship. Our running costs have increased by 30% since last year as a result of a surge in the demand for our services.  an average of 400 families visit us on a monthly basis and it's important that our building is warm, inviting and welcoming especially during the colder months.  our heating costs are averaging £1,200 although we haven't yet had a winter period in our new premises therefore we are very worried about what kind of increase we may see. 

Our project will pay for an experienced Community Garden Project Worker who will

Develop the project with the support of users and volunteers, Develop a seasonal food growing strategy for the space, Organise the allocation of raised beds , Provide ongoing support to all users , Liaise with local schools/nurseries and other local groups within the community to encourage wider engagement with the project, Organise weekly onsite tasks including maintenance and upkeep, Encourage and support the development of an allotments/growing spaces committee, Research further funding opportunities to support material/resource costs and long-term sustainability of the project

We believe our project will support the local community by

Providing the opportunity and resources for local people to grow their own fruit and vegetables, Providing local school children with basic gardening knowledge, highlighting the importance of healthy eating and increasing awareness of ‘where food comes from’, The users and participants will be able to supplement their family’s diets with food produced in the community growing space, Encouraging ownership and personal responsibility , Fostering collaboration and the benefits and positivity of working together, Providing a safe and inclusive space for people to meet and socialise – therefore reducing social isolation, Promoting intergenerational engagement through allotments/growing space users being supported to deliver gardening/growing sessions with local school children, Improving the physical and mental wellbeing of those involved

Breakdown of costs

£2,400 - Cost of Community Garden Project Worker to manage project/£20 per hour x 8 hours per week x 20 weeks

The HUB will be committed to creating an inclusive, welcoming space for young adults aged 16 and above. Our mission is to foster personal growth, build strong social connections, and provide a platform for members to explore their interests and passions. We aim to accomplish this by offering a range of programs, including food budgeting, meal planning and sharing meals. Our senior youth group Ur-Turn prepares a meal each week to sit and share, and these moments are beneficial to all who attend. To continue this tradition and extend its benefits, we are introducing an additional evening session for the young adult in our community. 

We will provide guidance, support, and referrals to other organisations, addressing food poverty and dietary issues with the collaboration of outside agencies. By partnering with other organisations, we aim to offer the best support and guidance pathways to enhance the future confidence and wellbeing of our young adults. We are dedicated to establishing a safe, vibrant, and inclusive environment where individuals can connect, learn, and grow together. By offering a supportive and engaging atmosphere, we encourage personal development, community involvement, and the pursuit of shared goals. Our objective is to empower individuals through education, life skills, and active participation. All of our sessions will endeavour to improve their wellbeing, whilst focusing on preventive measures and raise awareness on issue-based topics such as substance misuse.

Cost Breakdown : 

Shared Meals programme = £500, Evening Sessions cost = £700, Administrative Costs = £300, Staffing and Facilitator Costs = £500, Utilities = £500.

We grow our organic crops, in an off grid environment & share them free around our community.  Since our earliest days, we have had the aim to be able to offer a social cooking oportunity where we sow, grow, harvest & cook our own vegetables on site. We have gained the necessary skills over the last few years & are now ready to expand & to do this we need a power source. The most economic way to do this is to install a generator with electric hook up & we need your help to establish this system.  This would open up the opportunity for a wider community involvement bringing home the ease & value of simple , on the spot, crop growing techniques from plot to the pot.   No lingering transport miles/expense/time involvement-we can access our own fresh, healthy produce, full of the best of nutritional values, on our doorstep. Plus the added bonus of sharing, caring and growing in our understanding of each other as we grow through each season.  Creating this warm welcome space will provide much needed respite & shelter  from this ongoing, harsh climate of food & fuel poverty that deeply prevails within our community.

We are applying for £2,500 as we don't get any other support  from other agencies

We provide support signposting advice in collaboration with CAB who attend in person bi weekly and also offer support via referrals and phone numbers. We encourage carers to come in and not worry about their heating costs, we want to reduce isolation and we also provide support to over 110 kinship families within West Dunbartonshire 

We will open daily through Winter from 10am till 1.30 to facilitate this for families . 

£500 will be used for food 

The remainder will be spent on continuing support to both our weekly service. This will help with both volunteer and running costs 

We also require a soup urn and extra bowls dishes. 

We are applying for £500 to purchase food for our community pantry which is currently supporting up to 150 people/families every week. Our drop in cafe offers a free two course hot meal cooked fresh on our premises.  Over the winter we are a warm hub for families who are struggling to heat their homes and also feed their children.  We provide vochers for warm clothing along with gas and electricity support for vulnerable adults and families.  The additional £2000 will enable us to support more families within West Dunbartonshire and continue to provide a warm safe place for our clients.

Our project is to help anyone struggling with food poverty to be able to come in to Golden Friendships club and access either free freshly cooked meals or subsidised freshly coopked meals. We have projects ongoing throught the years that tackle social isolation where we bring people together with freshly cooked meals and some entertainment. We also host afternoons for families each month where we provide hot and cold drinks with hot and cold snacks. At the moment we are doing free freshly cooked meals October to end of March to help with the cost of living crisis.

What we would like to apply for funding for is new refrigeration. We are currently using domestic fridges and freezers and have been advised we should be using commercial items. 

The total cost of what we need is laid out below.  If we secured £2500 from Community Budgeting, this would go towards the total fund cost.

3 x Fridge Foster Xtra 600l @1,803.75  Refrigeration  £5411.85

2 x Freezer Foster Xtra 600l @1803.75  Freezers        £3607.90

1 x Chest freezer 504l                             Freezer          £1679.98

1 x Hot plate Warmer                              Plate Warmer  £768.00

                                                              TOTAL COST    £ 11467.73

We will use Grant money to purchase

Food vouchers £500

Running Costs - GoDaddy for email and website  £378 anually

Fuel to go round Local Authority to deliver Vouchers and attend meetings £150

Stationary to cover ink, labels, envelopes, paper etc. £300

Group Laptop to continue our Project £622

Power to run computer, printer etc. £200

Phone Costs £100

Foodshare is an independent registered charity which was started in March 2013 in order to help people experiencing food poverty. We started off doing emergency food provision covering all of West Dunbartonshire, this was suppoesed to be temporary but since then the need for the service has increased and our numbers for support are rising every year. we provide this support by home delivery as we find this is more dignified for people and we are able to reach more elderly and housebound people. Along with food support, the charity has since developed other much needed projects including a School Uniform Bank where we provide a new school uniform for kids going back to school and also run this throughout the year, Fuel Bank where we offer we offer emergency top ups for pre payment meters, School Holiday Brunch Bags where we provide breakfast and lunches each day the schools are off, A Christmas Toybank and a Babybank. We work closely with other local organisations to reach as many people in need in our community. The high cost of basic necessities is placing significant burden on low income families. Recently we have seen an increase in need amongst low income working families. We would use £500 for food and £2000 towards operating costs including, Rent Unit 21, Utilities, Fuel costs for deliveries.