Coronavirus: Kirkcaldy comes together to help the vulnerable

As we enter the second week of a nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus, people from all walks of life have rallied together to help those who are less fortunate than others and or are in isolation.

Several groups, charities, individuals and organisations have put their own wellbeing aside to help others in the community who are social-distancing or self-isolating.

With the Government’s advice that some of the most vulnerable people are to self-isolate for 12 weeks, scores of volunteers from Kirkcaldy have made it their mission to make sure these people are not left alone in these troubling times.

After receiving calls for help through Facebook, the Kirkcaldy Central Mosque has sprung into action to help people all over Fife, Imam Mansoor Mahmood said: “We started getting messages through our Facebook page last week, with people from all over Fife needing help, we have had requests to deliver food from Rosyth all the way to Ladybank as well as people from Kirkcaldy.

“After we put a post on Facebook offering to help, the surge of people contacting us has been crazy.

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“There are a lot of families that are struggling right now, so we are tailor making the food parcels to cater to everyone's needs and we are colour coding them to make sure the families who are in greatest need get a delivery first.

“Currently, we have been getting the food from supermarkets, but this can be quite hard as most shops have a limit on the amount of items that we can get. As a few of our members at the mosque are shopkeepers we are trying to set something up with cash and carries across the country to make buying the food a bit easier.

“Our volunteers who have been helping to deliver food have been an inspiration, to get the food out as quickly as possible they have been buying the food for the parcels with money from their own pocket, just to make sure people and families are not going without, and the response from our congregation has also been immense with everyone donating and helping out.

“Some of the stories of hardship that I have been hearing are absolutely heartbreaking, there are so many people in difficult situations now.”

Imam Mansoor adds: “If anyone would like to donate any food, we are requesting that they donate items such as flour, pasta, eggs, rice, soup and porridge, we would like to ask them to leave their donations outside the mosque at Cumbrae Terrace or if anyone is needing help to contact us through our Facebook page.”

Since the recent closure of the Kirkcaldy Foodbank for a day to organise its social-distancing policy, operations are back up and running.

Joyce Leggate, chairman of the foodbank, said: “We have had a good response for volunteers after our recent appeal and the service is back to as normal as it can be under the circumstances.

“We have also had super support from FairShare with us recently receiving 100 crates of food, and we are getting plenty of donations from supermarkets as well, which is making a huge difference.

“Our volunteers are doing an amazing job, and are really going above and beyond, a lot of our volunteers have had to take a step back from frontline service, but are working tirelessly behind the scenes as we are settling into the new normal.

“The people of Kirkcaldy have been so generous with physical and financial support, it is greatly appreciated.”

The Linton Lane Centre in Kirkcaldy has also been open everyday as one of the foodbank’s main distribution points, Mandy Henderson, centre manager, and her team have been working tirelessly to ensure some of Kirkcaldy’s most vulnerable people get the support that they need.

Mandy said: “We have had some unbelievable support from local business, John from Carlton Bakery has handed in cleaning products and lots of frozen and fresh foods and will also continue to empty their freezers to help the community, Aldi’s and Marks and Spencer have also been supporting us.

“Everyone has really come together to help each other out, we have managed to help other charities and organisations with food parcels, First, the drug and alcohol misuse support service have been in touch to help some of their clients out and we have also been able to help Nourish, the family support centre for people with additional needs.

“We still don’t have our helpline up and running yet but if someone is needing our help in regards to their mental health they can call the centre and we can forward them onto a trained counsellor to help.”

The Linktown Tenants and Residents Association have also been inundated with calls for help due to the coronavirus pandemic, Lizzy Halsted, community volunteer, said: “We are still getting people calling and messaging us for help.

“As well as lunches and food parcels we have been dropping off books and school learning packs for the kids, we have also been donated gloves, aprons and shoe covers which we have passed along to some care companies that have been unable to get deliveries of these items.

“We will continue to do whatever we can to help and support people for as long as we can.”

For more information contact:

Imam Mansoor Mahmood 07455 206890

http://www.kirkcaldyfoodbank.org.uk/

The Linton Lane Centre 01592 643816