Glenrothes Foodbank: Charity says no cause for celebration as it approaches 10th anniversary

The foodbank first opened its doors in December 2013 to help support those experiencing food poverty in Glenrothes and the surrounding area, but in recent years, the charity has had to take a more holistic approach to tackling poverty. The foodbank now runs a cafe, clothing bank and fuel bank in addition to food provision.

According to Lynn Smart, foodbank manager, the impending anniversary had the charity questioning how it should mark the occasion. “One of the first things I said was ‘do we celebrate this?’ No, you don’t ‘celebrate’ it because really our jobs are to make sure that foodbanks are not needed,” she said. “But that’s not obviously the way it’s going, we’re going to be here to do our 20 year ‘celebration’ at some point.”

However, the foodbank is keen to stress there are positive stories to be marked in the work that it has taken on over the last decade. “I think there is a positive story to tell in terms of the increase in donations,” explains Foodbank chair Ross Livingstone. That rise in donations has helped to meet the rise in demand for the foodbank’s services, in November 2023 they fed 341 people compared to 246 in November 2021.

Lynn said that the last three months have been the highest of the year. The foodbank is also giving out longer lasting food parcels, switching from three days of provisions to seven. The aim is to give breathing space to those who are in need according to Lynn. “You’re not going to combat a crisis in three days,” she said.

It is evidence of a charity that is having to adapt to changing circumstances,mbut with that comes a higher need for support from the community. Businesses and individuals have rallied round, either offering up donations or partnering up with the foodbank. One local business allowed the foodbank to undertake free health and safety training.

“Those little partnerships actually save us a couple of hundred pounds on staff training that we can then reinvest back into food for people,” said Ross.

With the foodbank still buying most of its food stock rather than having goods donated, those savings can make a difference – specially as the cost of living crisis sees more and more families face tough decisions.

“When you’re struggling, you will look at cutting your own cloth and if giving to charity is something you don’t feel you can do any more, it’s totally understandable,” Lynn acknowledges.

However, people are still keen to give what they can, including those in schools, once a place that donated a high level of goods. Lynn said that she’s had to change tact with how she appeals for donations, requesting carrier bags from the school children. “It’s so that they all feel included and that they can bring something in - the carrier bag seems the easiest way to go.”

Despite the support of the local community, the foodbank faces a number of challenges going forward, but it shares many of these problems with the rest of Scotland’s network.

“We see the same thing when I go on Scotland-wide calls. It's our stock -we don’t have enough,” Lynn explains.

Whilst the foodbank shares those challenges with the broader foodbank network, Lynn said there are still some issues that are particular to the Glenrothes area, such as the gap between supermarkets and food provision. She said she’ would be keen to see a low-cost pantry model available in the town, and calls it “a really good working model to help move out of foodbank use.”

Much of the foodbank’s success is down to its volunteers, many of whom have their own experiences of poverty and food insecurity, and it is their attitudes and willingness to help people currently experiencing those challenges that may ensure that places like Glenrothes Foodbank stick around.

“I think there will now always be some form of emergency fallback so that people aren't in the situation that the people that volunteer here, or the people that have had to use here in the past, have have found themselves in,” explained Ross.

Lynn agrees: “It might look different. They might change the name of it from being a foodbank, but it will effectively be a foodbank. There will always be some kind of crisis support regarding food.”