Kirkcaldy Foodbank: backing for fundraiser post as demand for help rises

Kirkcaldy’s councillors debated a £10,000 funding for a fundraiser post with Kirkcaldy Foodbank at Tuesday’s Kirkcaldy area committee. Funding comes as part of a more than £1.1m programme of spending from the Community Recovery Fund.

The hope for the fundraiser post is that it will allow the Foodbank to become self-sustaining by giving board members training to maximise the funding process. A similar project run at the Linton Lane Centre has been deemed a success.

Speaking after the Kirkcaldy Foodbank AGM, held on Tuesday, Councillor Julie MacDougall (Labour, Burntisland, Kinghorn and Western Kirkcaldy) was keen to praise the efforts of volunteers.

She said: “Going along to the meeting, it was heartwarming in some ways because you have a huge amount of volunteers, and they are doing amazing work in terms of trying to do the best for the community.”

However, Cllr MacDougall raised concerns about how funding would have a long term impact on the foodbank.

She added: “My concerns are the long-term sustainability of the foodbank because we all know how cash-strapped the councils are.

“I think there’s something far wrong that you’ve got to have 140 volunteers running a foodbank in Kirkcaldy at a time like this. I think it’s about getting to the root of the problem, but that’s easier said than done.”

The foodbank released its 2022 annual report ahead of its annual meeting.

It showed that in the last year Kirkcaldy Foodbank distributed 16,205 food parcels - an increase of 17 per cent compared to 2021.

The report noted concerns around funding, with the foodbank spending almost £100,000 on food by May 2022. This caused the foodbank to change how it distributed food, moving from a one in every three days model to a one in every seven days model.

However, following a successful appeal for donations, the foodbank received a bumper £160,000 of its £276,000 funding in the final three months of the year.