Kirkcaldy Foodbank stalwart Joyce Leggate steps down as chairman

Taking the lead of the vital service in 2018, Joyce has steered it through some of its toughest years since its launch in 2013.

After retiring as a midwife with the NHS in 2014, Joyce started volunteering at the foodbank because she had always been involved in helping others.

From packing food parcels at the charity’s first base in Dysart, she went on to join the foodbank’s board before being asked to stand for election to lead it as chairman.

She said: “I’ve always been involved with looking out for people one way or another – I was a midwife for 40 years at Forth Park Hospital and the skills that I had developed over the years fit very well with the nurturing nature of the foodbank.

"I started out packing boxes and crates at the hub in Dysart before the foodbank moved into Linton Lane Centre, and I’ve been there ever since!

"After a few years serving on the board I was asked to stand for the chairman position and I agreed.”

By then the foodbank was well established and it was a case of maintaining the course of the service - but as changes to the benefit system came into effect, as well as the coronavirus pandemic,, times would get tougher for a service that so many vulnerable people rely on.

"After my appointment as chairman it was just a case of directing the well oiled machine that the foodbank had become,” she said. “Little did we know that just around the corner there would be so many crises.

"When 2020 hit with the pandemic there were a lot of changes to make to an ever changing situation.

"There were so many challenges to overcome as staff were having to step back to protect themselves, food deliveries were an issue, and we were seeing a surge in visitors as a lot of people were being made redundant as companies started to close.

"We were also seeing a rise in visitors when the changes were made to the Universal Credit benefit as no one anticipated that the uplift to peoples benefits would be taken away.”

Joyce said her medical expertise and background with the NHS in having a wider knowledge of public health helped her greatly in keeping the foodbank open throughout the pandemic.

"We were only closed for one day on the first day of the first lockdown,” she said. “With working for the NHS for so long I have a great understanding of public health and infection control with the upshot being that in two years we have never had a single outbreak of COVID-19 at any of our foodbank venues.

"It really was a challenge but the volunteers stepped up and rose to the challenge to make sure the most vulnerable were still able to put food on the table.”

Joyce also said that as the cost of living continues to rise, so the demand for support grows from people and families who have to decide whether to heat their homes or feed their children.

"With the rise in the cost of living combined with benefit cuts and people being made redundant due to the pandemic there has been a continual steady rise in the demand for food in Kirkcaldy and the surrounding areas,” she said.

"If anyone has historical debt, they are fighting a losing battle and may have to make a very real decision to choose between heat or eat.

"The number of children that we support is absolutely devastating – and these numbers keep rising sharply.

"I would love to see the need for the foodbank to be gone, but it’s hard to be optimistic when you are presented with the figures that only go up and not down.

She added: “Although I’m stepping down as chairman, I’ll still be on the board and available to do whatever is needed – I don’t find volunteering with the foodbank an onerous task and I’ll be on hand to support the new chairman as much as needed.”

The new chairman, Ian Campbell, is no stranger to how it works and operates as he previously held the position before Joyce took control in 2018.

He said: “My priorities are to tackle any financial challenges that the foodbank may be facing as as we go forward and the demand for support continues we need to ensure that we have enough funding.

"As Kirkcaldy Foodbank is an independent charity we need to identify key funders to keep driving forward and to support the people who need us most.

"We have had some great support from local businesses and companies, but I sometimes wonder how much more can be asked of them?

"I’m asking people who have financial security to hopefully find it in their hearts to support us and to ask themselves is there anything they can do to help others who are less fortunate?"

Ian adds that if you were to consider the foodbank as a normal business the cost to run it would be extremely expensive and that without the support of the community and key funders all of the work the foodbank does would be possible.

"We have over 100 volunteers, and if you were to think about how many hours of work both front of house and behind the scenes go on the cost would be astronomical for a normal business!

“Without the support of the wider community we would not be able to do what we do, and we cannot become complacent in the support of our partners or we may lose them altogether.”