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A Kirkcaldy church has made a donation of £10,000 to Kirkcaldy Foodbank after the charity made an appeal for funding.

Abbotshall Church made the substantial donation at its weekly service on Sunday.

It came after discussions around what to do with funds collected during lockdown.

Euan Fraser, treasurer at Abbotshall, explained: “During the Covid pandemic, when the church almost ceased to exist, our congregation was superb. They kept contributing to the church.

Ian Campbell (Kirkcaldy Foodbank chair), Morag Michael (Abbotshall Church session slerk ) and Euan Fraser (Abbotshall Church treasurer) at Sunday's service

“When we came out of the pandemic about six months ago, our minister, Justin Taylor, said to the congregational board we had quite a lot of money in our working account, and needed to think about what to do with it.

The board considered investing the funds, but felt that this wouldn’t be doing enough to help the local community, or using the money to run initiatives within the congregation.

Kirkcaldy Foodbank: £20,000 appeal to avert threat of closure

However, it decided to donate the funds to a local charity, and chose Kirkcaldy Foodbank after reading reports of its financial struggles.

Mr Fraser explained: “We had a meeting and put it to the board asking which charity should we support, and the strong support was for Kirkcaldy Foodbank”.

Ian Campbell, chair of the Foodbank, attended the service to collect the donation and to highlight the work his organisation does in the community.

He thanked the church for its generosity and highlighted the importance of the charity by encouraging as many donors as possible to help it reach its appeal target.

He said: “We recognise that many churches across Kirkcaldy contribute to the community, and we are grateful that Abbotshall have given such a significant donation, which shows it is are living the gospel in a true and concrete way.

“We are getting funding, and donations are coming in. We are encouraging everyone who can to donate so that we actually reach, and hopefully surpass, that funding target”.

The Foodbank said it needed £20,000 to ensure that they stay viable as demand grew and donations dropped

It warned that it could be facing closure within the next 18 months.

Kirkcaldy Foodbank’s Just Giving page can be found at: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/linda-judge3

£10,000 boost for Kirkcaldy Foodbank's appeal