Urgent new fundraising appeal as Kirkcaldy faces poverty crisis

Fifers have been urged to Fuel A Family with food and essentials to help them get through the coronavirus crisis.

The Cottage Family Centre in Kirkcaldy is asking the community to donate the money they’d normally spend on petrol to their lifeline support for vulnerable children and families across the town.

The frontline community hub fears the town is on the brink of a poverty crisis as it logs more and more reports of people in desperate situations as the impact of lockdown bites hard.

Many have been furloughed or lost their jobs – and the financial pressures on their families are intense.

And lockdown has brought difficulties to the doors of many who have never faced such hardship before.

The idea for the Fuel A Family campaign came from one of the centre’s supporters who decided to donate the money he wasn’t spending on petrol during lockdown.

It was then expanded to include donations equivalent to a bus or train ticket, with all pledges going to provide critical support for local families.

Since the beginning of April, the Cottage has delivered 12,600 packed lunches to vulnerable children in the Kirkcaldy area, and given 1500 families food packages which last up to seven days.

The centre has also supplied baby items including nappies, baby food, clothing, wipes and buggies, helped families in financial hardship with utility bills and buying essential white goods such as cookers and washing machines.

It has also helped to provide beds and mattresses so people with nothing can at least get a night’s sleep.

Number of Covid-19 deaths in each area of Kirkcaldy and district

Pauline Buchan, manager of the Cottage, revealed that lockdown has depepend the problems facing many families.

She said: “We are hearing from families with young children on a daily basis now that are desperate.

“At the start of lockdown none of us knew how bad it would get for some of these people on our doorstep, but as the weeks have gone on money has got tighter, some have lost jobs or been furloughed and pressures are increased.

“We have been using donations and the grants we’ve received to buy food, essentials and activity packs and have been giving practical support and guidance to families with kids under five.

“During this period, we have seen a significant impact on both adult and children’s emotional wellbeing and this is why activities to encourage parents to take their children out in to the fresh air for exercise at least once per day are so important.

“Then we added to that and started giving out packed lunches because some families weren’t entitled to the school meal benefit, had lost their employment and simply didn’t know how they were going to feed their kids.

“But the money we have had so far is running out.

“We need to ask people to help in any way they can.

Pauline said that the centre was hugely thankful for all the financial support it has so far received, as well as the voluntary assistance that has come from so many people.

“We have been supported by Children and Families Teams staff in Kirkcaldy and Community Payback team staff to enable us to make deliveries to families’ home addresses where they are in isolation or where, for example, there is a single parent with a number of children who without support would find it difficult to come to the centre to collect items.

“By working together this has also enabled social work staff to engage with families, too if needed.”

www.crowdfunder.co.uk/fuel-a-family

While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you. In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you - wherever possible and providing it is safe for you to do so - to also please purchase a copy of our newspapers; the Fife Free Press, Fife Herald, St Andrews Citizen, East Fife Mail and Glenrothes Gazette.

Inevitably falling advertising revenues will start to have an impact on local newspapers and the way we continue to work during this period of uncertainty.

The support of our readers has never been more important as we try to make sure that we keep you connected with your community during this time. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. We need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Our team of trusted reporters are working incredibly hard behind the scenes - from kitchen tables and spare bedrooms - to look at how we can do this, and your continued support of our newspapers across Fife will help to protect their viability in the days and weeks ahead.

For more details on our subscription offers please visit email [email protected] or call us on 0330 4033004

Thank you

Allan Crow, Editor, Fife Free Press