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.

Our funds are depleting rapidly due the current and predicted raise of utility costs and this has affected and will continue to affect the use of the Village Community Hall for our villagers as a meeting place that provides support, fun, health and wellbeing and reduce loneliness and isolation for villagers of all ages in our community and surrounding area.

The 2025 plan until June includes regular village and community meetings; Bingo night; Ceilidh night; Quiz night; Learn and Grow sessions; Drop In and Chat Group; Easter Week activities and events; a proposed Walking Group and Ukulele Group.

We have also made contact with ‘Men Matter’ as we have had interest in starting some form of Mens’ Group looking at such things as cycling and recycling, walking football/exercise in the new MUGA; Pat Testing; and enhancing our park facilities identifying skills that that can be shared to help in enhancement our village environment.

Working with WDC Greenspace we were delighted to secure a WDC Large Grant Funding and Landfill Tax Funding for the installation of a new MUGA in the King George V Field in Milton. When completed it is envisaged that our Village Community Hall will be used even more and will encourage all ages to be more active having a positive impact on overall health.

We worked with Business Energy Scotland for 18 months concluding in a large grant application for conversion of the Village Community Hall to greener energy. In August 2024 this was deemed as unsuccessful. In the interim we have applied for other grants towards the 25% contribution required from our group, for a planning application and other small costs and were successfully awarded these grants which we will currently hold in our bank account until we are successful in securing the large amount of funds required to complete this project. 

To enable all of this to happen we are still actively working on this project in order to achieve meeting our greener energy targets and cutting our current utility costs by 75% as advised in our Business Energy Report to enable all this to happen.

We are currently in need of a new fridge/freezer, which due to inefficiency, requires replacement and should help towards reducing some of our overall running costs. 

Purchase of new fridge/freezer at a cost of £300.

Contribution towards food costs £500

Contribution to utility costs £1700 - Hopefully covering a six month period

In order for us to continue functioning in the way we have over the last two and half years as a group, we request the assistance of a total grant of £2500 in order to be able to sustain and utilise our community resources.

To bring beavers  ( agees 6-8) a level of knowledge what foods are good and bad and to give the theskills to make simple snacks such as sandwiches, explaining the dangers of dangers such as knives that may harm themselves and certain food items that may cause ill health.

For Cubs ( 8-10) we need to explain more complicated cooking such as micro wave and simple meals on cookers and ovens, including budgeting skills .

Scouts (10-14) will need tutoring to build up skills to make 3  course meals explaining hobw to measure quantities, budgeting skills and timing skills to ensure everything comes together. They will need to learn how to cook for themselves and to prepare food for groups and guests to get proportions right and to learn about all the different costituents of foods such as pulses, carbohydrates etc

Costs

cooker/oven  £1500

knives, pots and pans £500

food £500

To properly conduct this we will need to by a substantial cooker and oven, gbood kitchen knives and good cooking pots and pans.   

Training sessions to explain all about food . Th e bad and good elements of cooking, how to make lists after looking at recipes, shopping for items, ensuring best price and dixcounts, how to store items , prepare food for cooking, actually making the meals and serving the meal.   

Best practice at end of m eal , how to tidy up , wash, clean and ensuring everything is spotless as germs and animals, plus insects may thrive on the waste and dirty food that may be left in cooking and dining areas.

The grant will be promoted and hopefully encourage more recruitment to ensure the well being of young people within the community. The scouting group brings all ethnic religious and differing sectors together to harmonise the community and to bring everyone together.

From encouraging the young people to work together it will bring unity and community spirit so that the young people will help each other 

This project will lead in ensuring better diets, less health issues and a better quality of life off the young people within the family setting and social networking arena

Costs

Cooker / Oven £1500

pots. / pans / cooking aids £500

food £500

The Phoenix provides a range of activities, groups and opportunities for residents of Dumbarton West.  At the heart of The Phoenix is a community cafe offering a free to access lunch three days a week and a community breakfast once a week.  It also provides holiday hunger provision and a range of other groups including toddler cooking classes and numeracy classes for adults built around cooking.  We also provide volunteer opportunities for adults to develop new skills, reduce isolation, improved wellbeing, and develop their employability chances.

Our switch from a comemrcial (although heavily subsidised) model to a free to access (although many provide donations) came about 18 months ago after consultation with service users and their concerns about the cost of living crisis and the food insecurity that would bring.  Local people have also acknowledged the importance of community and peer support the cafe has brought especially for single parents and those new to the community.  Many service users have also been able to access volunteer opportunities, access adult learning classes and access other groups and activites for their families.  This has reduced isolation and improved mental wellbeing. 

With much of the kitchen installed over 6 years ago, there are elements that could do with some upgrades and improvements.  This will allow us to continue to provide the key services we offer in the community cafe.

Upgrade of ovens: £1900

Upgrade of crockery: £100

Upgrade of drinks fridge: £500

The Dumbarton Castle Society Schools History Project has been successfully delivered to local primary schools and one secondary school in the last two years.

We hosted approximately 250 pupils over a 2 day period in June of 2023 and 2024 whereby they exhibited their work through detailed research of their chosen topic, which included: Robert the Bruce, Mary Queen of Scots, William Wallace, Saint Patrick, and the Wars of Independence.

The pupils interacted with each other's display exhibits and enjoyed a range of other activities including; soap carving, crown making, traditional weaving, wearing of period costumes such as the Romans, the Vikings, Robert the Bruce, William Wallace, Mary Queen of Scots, history story telling ,  IT period gaming and VR headset experiences.

This event has led to, for example, the local schools visiting Dumbarton Castle more frequently and to a recycling initiative led by a local primary school.

This project will:

Help to reduce food poverty by affording young people the opportunity to achieve higher attainment through learning, teamwork, and by developing new skills.

Reduce social isolation by encouraging young people and older (project volunteers) to interact successfully and to develop leadership and teamwork in the research of these projects.

Address inequalities in the community by affording all pupils and volunteers the opportunity to lead and to engage in teamwork during the research and presentation of their chosen history topics.

Address environmental issues by engaging in, for example,  recycling and beach cleaning projects.

Equipment Costs:

• Cooker Hood Replacement: Our current cooker hood is no longer able to withstand the high temperatures generated during our weekly soup preparation. It has sustained significant damage and requires replacement. We anticipate a cost of £800-£1000 for a suitable replacement.
• Industrial Dishwasher: To efficiently handle the volume of dishes and cutlery used in the soup kitchen we need to replace our existing dishwasher with an industrial model. This upgrade is crucial to maintain hygiene and improve kitchen workflow. The estimated cost for an industrial dishwasher is £1,250.
• Kitchen Utensils: We are planing to invest £200-£250 in essential kitchen utensils. This will include items such as durable pots and pans, a high-quality toaster, and a microwave. These upgrades will enable us to prepare and serve meals more efficiently.

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 members 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 members 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 £2,500 as we don't get any other support  from other agencies

we provide support signposting advice in colaberstion 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 about their heating cost we want to reduce isolation and we also provide support to 110 plus 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 groups day and evening and 1 to 1 supports and in January our homework club .  This will help with both volunteer and running costs 

We also require a soup urn and extra bowls dishes 

We are asking for £2500 all of which would be spent on materials, building of beds would be carried out by volunteers. The beds would be worked on by people suffering from Alzheimers, they would be led by the person who grows for foodshare at present helped by other plot holders. It is planned that Cornerstone(mental health group) will be on site in the near future and would be more than welcome to participate.

CLYDEBANK OSPREY AMATEUR BOXING CLUB are looking to set up a dry food pantry to help the local community .this will help not only the existing club participants but also make the club welcome to all local residents ,hopefully encouraging them to participate in exercise in a warm , safe comfortable enviroment,leading to life long health benefits and an increased sense of community in the locals area.

The club is also needing new equipment to help the existing and new participants. 

community pantry build £1200

new equipment  £1300