Volunteers at Old Kilpatrick Food Parcels hailed on charity's third anniversary

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The founder of Old Kilpatrick’s first foodbank and community cafe has thanked the charity’s volunteers, as it marks its third anniversary.Old Kilpatrick Food Parcels (OKFP) was set up by Maureen Cummings and husband Gordon in May 2020 - just weeks after the country had been plunged into a strict lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.With the world turned on its head, Maureen and Gordon launched OKFP from home - initially picking up prescriptions and essential supplies for people unable to leave their home.They expanded to a foodbank - and having initially provided food to 18 people on their first week in operation, the charity has now handed out more than 27,500 food parcels - with over 120 volunteers helping.Earlier this year OFKP also launched a new takeaway at The Saltings, working in tandem with their existing Chatty Cafe - which acts as a heat hub in the winter, and aims to bring the community together in a safe, friendly and caring environment.Maureen said: “Our volunteers have had challenging times, but I take my hat off to them.

They always think ‘what must be going on in this person’s life’.“We’re so blessed with the people we have in the charity. We’ve had over 120 volunteers since we started.

They are part of our family.“At the very beginning a lot of us couldn’t see our own families so we chose our bubbles to be with each other.“Our volunteers, in that first year, were risking their own health every single day we decided to open up.“There would be no OKFP if it wasn’t for volunteers.

In the beginning all we had were kind-hearted people who were willing to take a risk to help others.“Some of those volunteers have been with us since the beginning.