Our project collects surplus food from the Blairgowrie Tesco, Sainsburys, Lidl and 2 Co-op supermarkets and utilises it in several ways:

Saturday & Wednesday lunch clubs, Home cooked frozen meals, Surplus food store and Community larders

Over the past 2 years we have saved over 100 tonnes of food from going to waste. The store is open to all and offers surplus food for free or a donation to help with running costs and hance has a major impact on reducing waste as well as dramatically redcuing food purchase bills for locals.

We are applying for funding to help with the running costs of the BaRI Building which houses our store but also is a base for local mental health support provided by service providers as well as a meeting place for community groups etc. Running the building costs:

£12,500 rent £7,400 electricity

The store is open 4 times per week with people in the building to setup, run and close totalling 12 hours per week hence around 1/3 of working week. We are applying for £3,000 to help cover the rent and utilities to allow us to continue to reduce surplus food.

Crieff Community Gardeners are a constituted community group based in Crieff Community Garden. We have an active community food larder within the community garden which offers free surplus vegetables harvested from the garden together with surplus dry goods from Crieff Coop. The has been a great service for locals suffering from the effects of the cost of living crisis. They can discreetly take anything food they require on a daily basis.

Unfortunately we have suffered severe vandalism which means that our current shed hosting the food larder has been severely damaged and is no longer lockable. Vandals have kicked in the door and kicked the walls from the inside out. 

This is an essential service which we need to continue, but being unable to lock the shed, our volunteers can no longer do evening deliveries as we cannot leave the food unattended overnight for health and safety reasons. They are therefore having to do early morning deliveries on a daily basis which is causing a strain on our volunteers.

We require a new sturdy shed, together with mini polytunnels to asisst our veg growing and some new bulbs. 

Rattray Community Garden has 23 raised beds for planting and growing fruit and veg locally to help with the circular economy and cost of living by making more food available locally. 

Collecting water from main building and greenhouse:

3 x water butts £134.97

3 x Rainwater Diverter Kits £29.97

To support cultivation: wheelbarrows, watering cans:  £43.99 and £20.97

Progress/Activity chalkboard: £88

Signage: 3 signs @ £95 each - total £285

Installation costs £250

50% Running costs for 2024 - £960 water, £400 electricity 

Total request is £2,576

Impact

Implementing water collection and supporting running costs and equipment will bring the use of the garden to fruition alowing us to put it to full use which will include:

• planting fruit and vegetables in our 23 riased compost beds, involving locals and demonstrating how to plant, nurture and grow our own food
• working with schools and local groups/organisations on growing food locally - the garden volunteers, Blair in Bloom, Biodiversity Blair, SCYD etc
• offering the fruit and veg to volunteers, locals and selling some to help with on-going costs
• hosting events, food fesitvals, food demonstrations etc 
• demonstrating ways of collecting and using rain water which can be replicated at home thus potentially reducing water bills

All of the above is taken from the original business plan created back in 2019/20 and is aimed at providing food and knowledge to locals to reduce their food purchase costs by growing their own, allowing those without garden space to grow items and sharing the cost of growing locally. This will have a direct imapct on the local Cost of Living with the fruit and veg being made available and will have the longer term benefit of sharing the knowledge and ideas of growing your own food with the community and can be a stepping stone to create a wider, larger community farm where locals can grow and access home grown food thus reducing their food bills.

What is Social Flock? 

Social Flock is a community clothing charity. We aim to mitigate the impact of poverty and reduce our community’s reliance on fast fashion by providing FREE clothing packs of pre-loved and new clothing.

What is in a Back to School Pack? 

Our packs include 3 shirts, 2 bottoms, 2 jumpers/cardis, 2 PE t shirts, 2 PE bottoms, a PE jumper and a school bag. We also aim to include school shoes and/or trainers plus stationary and other back to school essentials like pack lunch boxes. Everything a child needs for taking part in their school journey. 

Why do many days’ worth of clothing?  Well, Child Poverty Action Group research found that some children were reporting that they were missing school because they only had one uniform, and it was in the wash. If we give more, we empower young people to engage more. Especially with the rising energy costs, families will not be able to wash uniform as frequently. We want to keep children dressed in clean, high quality pre-loved clothes, for as much of the week as possible.

Packs are personalised to each schools colours and the child’s style preferences (so you can tell us if they won’t wear shorts, or will only wear cardigans!) and their sensory needs to make sure the packs are made to suit the individual. We also ask for bag colours and characters and try our hardest to match up to their personal style. One child asked for a Frozen bag and we managed to get one for her, she put it on as soon as she got her pack and didn't want to take it off! 

Who can apply? 

We believe in making our projects as accessible as possible so if you live in Perth, attend a local Primary or High School, and wear clothing you can apply, and all applications are successful.  This means anyone impacted by the Cost of Living Crisis, or interested in being more climate aware, can apply no matter their income.  

Everyone is feeling the pinch right now and a pack of uniform really helps with 40% of carers saying their 2022 pack improved their mental health and over 50% stating it made their children excited to return to school. 

Families can self-refer meaning no one else has to be involved in your application process. We share our links with local schools and nurseries to circulate and we're building more partnerships and direct links with schools all the time. We also have a list of great referral partners, like Perth and Kinross Foodbank and HomeStart.

Why is this important to our local community? 

Environment and Fast Fashion - Approximately only 20% of all worldwide textiles used are recycled and the UK sends 350,000 tonnes of clothing to landfill each year. By passing on high quality pre-loved clothing and redistributing it to families who will continue to utilise it, we ensure clothes are being used to the end of their life. We know children grow quickly, and their clothes are often grown out of before the clothing is unwearable (although some uniform won’t survive the first term back!). 

Poverty - We know that 1 in 3 households in Perth and Kinross are classed as struggling financially. As the Cost of Living crisis continues, this is unfortunately only expected to continue.  2600 children in Perth and Kinross are classed as living in very deep poverty. The Perth City locality has the highest number of children living in relative poverty. feedback from our service users highlights that our service allows them to redirect their household budget to urgent bills and other unavoidable expenses, with 67% of feedback participants stating receiving our free clothing allowed them to re-prioritise their financial needs and 78% saying it reduced their stress. What more could we ask for?

By redistributing School Uniform, we can ensure all children can return to school feeling positive and matching their peers. How children feel in their clothes will have a dramatic impact on their school experience, their ability to learn and improve their future prospects. We know there is enough pre-loved clothing to support our local children to engage and build a bright and successful future!

How do we know this is something our community wants and needs?

2024 will be our third year running our Back to School Pack. In 2021 we provided 152 packs, in 2022 - 340 and in 2023 we reached our 400 application limit before the school holidays had ended. 

We know we will continue to watch our application numbers skyrocket as poverty in our local population continues to increase, and as awareness of the impact on our environment that clothing purchases continues to be focussed on in schools and by us.

In 2024 in order to continue to meet the needs of our community we need staff who can work alongside our tireless, amazing, volunteers to organise donations, make up packs and deliver them to our local children in time for them to go back to school in August. 

SO IF YOU THINK THAT...

- All children should have access to high quality school uniform?

- We should protect our environment and make positive pre-loved clothing choices? 

- By making little changes to our own lifestyle to support others we can make big changes for the future of our children?

Then please support us by voting for our Back to School Pack project.  Thank you.

Team Social Flock

Community, Clothing, Climate

Letham4All operates Community Fridge Projects in the Letham, Muirton, and Moncrieff areas of Perth City, collecting good surplus food from local supermarkets and suppliers to prevent going to waste. All the food is distributed, free of charge in the 3 community fridges and also shared with partners such as Martha's Kitchen and Giraffe to be used and prepared in their kitchens for free distribution in the community. Around 350 people a week access food from our Community Fridges and last year we prevented 5.4 tonnes of good food from going to waste, saving 13.5 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Initially, Letham4All collected only ambient fresh food products, bakery, unprepared fresh fruit and vegetables, etc, however, we have been testing our ability to collect fresh prepared food products such as ready meals, meat and meat products, fish, and other prepared food products. To carry out this test we have been lucky enough to borrow a blast freezer from Giraffe Check-In Works and have all the necessary environmental health policies and procedures in place to allow this to happen. By being able to blast freeze food on the evening of collection we are preventing more good food from going to landfill, as well as providing valuable sources of protein into people's diet. All the Community Fridges have freezers where the food can be accessed free of charge by local people.

We now need to return the borrowed Blast Freezer and are seeking funding to purchase our own, now we know that we can operate the collection and distribution of fresh foods safely and that these products are valued by people who access the Community Fridges . Very soon, we will be operating our Community Kitchen in the new Letham Community Hub and we will also use the blast freezer to enable surplus food to be processed and frozen for future use, such as bread, vegetables, etc. 

Quick Summary

Kirkmichael Community Garden are a charity, just starting out, and are looking for support to help fund the development of our garden. This money would go towards building raised beds, our welfare shed and potting/ tool sheds. We are hoping to get cracking with this work and the growing this spring, so we have produce to share with the whole community in the summer time. We have 23 volunteers lined up and the primary schools kids will have thier own space in the garden to learn about growing.

Description

is a SCIO established in November 2022, following around 1.5 years of work by our association to source land and consult with the community. We took ownership of 0.8 acres of land in June 2023, donated to the charity by a local land owner. We have a professional design, which includes community growing plots, 15m polytunnel, area of the primary school and scouts, wild flower area, sensory area and a large welfare shed, with potting/ tool shed.

We carried out a survey through our local newsgroup in Mid 2021 with 17 positive responses of local people, since then we held a community meeting in Summer 2023, to give a project update and carry out consultation on what the community would like to see in the garden. We currently operate a volunteer WhatsApp group which has 23 members, from this around 10 have volunteered so far with some of the initial development work. Once the garden is developed and ready for planting we plan to hold weekly volunteer session.

When we acquired the land we immediately dug a small plot with the school kids, so they could get started this season. They sowed seeds and harvested the first produce in October for their harvest assembly. Longer term, we plan to have raised beds and a small polytunnel for them to learn from, we have agreed with the Craig Loudon that the kids will work towards the RHS School Gardener Award next term, which the charity plan to support as much as possible.

We also eventually plan to deliver workshops for local to come and learn, not just for the community garden but to increase their skills for tending their own garden.

We have just been grant planning permission for the design and are hoping to get started with the main development this Spring.

Resilience

The heart of this project is about creating space so the community can grow food. Investment in this project will have an amazing, positive impact on the village now and for generations to come. Not only will the garden provide space for this it will also facilitate learning and spark interest in growing your own. We plan to have a large polytunnel also to optimise the growing season.

Within the garden there will also be wild flower areas to attract pollinators and to improve biodiversity, this work is already underway. The kids will also have a bug hotel. Kirkmichael does not have any significant outdoor space for the community, except a small seating area in front of the village shop. The garden will provide a space for outdoor community gatherings. There will also be space set aside for people to come and spend time, reflect and relax.

The garden produce will be given to our volunteer group for free, with the rest being offered to the community for an optional donation, through our own veg shack and through the village shop. Those who are adversely effected by the cost of living crisis can directly benefit from getting his healthy food from the garden. In addition, having the food available in the village could mean there is less need to travel to Blairgowrie and Pitlochry to food. 

Engagement

The community garden will provide a space for local people to come together to enjoy being outside in nature, while starting new or strengthen friendships, helping to address social isolation particularly for those who live alone in this rural area. Many people who live alone can lack the confidence to connect with others in a social setting, the garden creates a great opportunity for people to come and engage a little bit or a lot, just helping with odd jobs, so they can gradually develop stronger relationships in this setting. 

We plan to hold 2 volunteering sessions per week, where locals can come and help with the garden up keep. This will be a great opportunity for people again to connect and learn where guidance can be given on experience can be shared. We have already had a lot of interest in this, people with all level of experience and skills. We will offer the fresh, organic produce to the community as well as cooking workshops. Gathering to share recipes and good food will create a nice sense of community, health and well-being.

Community Action Plan

The best expression of local priorities can be found in the recently updated Mount Blair Community Action Plan (CAP). Amongst the issues highlighted by the CAP that align with the Community Garden project include the need to build better community involvement, spirit and resilience, better local facilities (particularly for children), the desire to tackle areas of abandoned or undeveloped land and the encouragement of projects that help establish, nurture or protect natural habitats and eco-systems.

The community survey activity that informs the CAP outcomes was undertaken in early 2022, so one huge issue it does not reflect are the effects of the tanking of the UK economy in September 2022, the war in Ukraine and the corresponding crises in inflation and the cost-of-living. These events bought the issue of increasing numbers of local households falling into food and fuel poverty into sharp focus. This has cast a new light on the ambitions of Garden which provides people with the opportunity and means to grow their own food.

Letham Climate Challenge is an established local charity, based in North Perth, which aim is to help people reduce waste , recycle , reuse and raise awareness of how people can contribute to tackling climate challenge. They operate the Letham Community Swap Shops in Garth Avenue, and also manage the Kingswell and Kinloch Terrace allotments. The organisation encourages both families and schoolchildren to grow their own food and discover the many health benefits of gardening and every plot is taken and there is a waiting list.

Water supply:

Letham Climate Challenge regularly engage with the plot holders, trying to improve the allotments and support their development. As result of listening to plot holders from the Kinloch Terrace site, Letham Climate Challenge is trying to improve access to water for the plot holders. Previously they group have tried to have water supplied to the site, but this proving challenging in terms of access to the supply and the cost is prohibitive. Plot holders have come up with the solution of installing 1000litre  water tanks together with water butts to be fixed to the communal shed in order to collect enough rainwater to support the site. This would the reduce the need to carry water to the site in vehicles and be beneficial in terms of encouraging the healthy growth of produce on the site. Furthermore, easier access to water would encourage participation from plot holders and volunteers as the task is less strenuous having water sources throughout the allotment,  and knowing that plants they have taken time to cultivate can indeed be watered. If we attached 2 waterbutts to the shed with guttering and drainpipes them we could collect rain water which could keep us going until the fire service can next refill the 1000litre water tanks.

Connecting Swap Shop and Allotments:

Letham Climate Challenge wish to encourage a better collaboration and community awareness between our Swap Shop based on Garth Road and our allotments at Kingswell and Kinloch Terrace.

In order to do so, we propose installing raised flower beds outside of the Garth Road store to give locals and shop-goers a taste of gardening to then signpost them to greater opportunities at our allotments.

We want to encourage everyone in our community to get involved in gardening, and learn new skills and techniques from our volunteers. We would like to educate people about organic growing for food security: Everyone can see the results of cooperation, hard work, and patience when they finally taste the fruits of their labour. By building raised flower beds which can be accessed by wheelchair users, we are encouraging everyone of all abilities to interact with nature and hopefully assist the next generation of eco-friendly eaters. Gardening can be a very sociable experience so by creating a wellbeing space and connecting with wellbeing groups we believe that we can foster positive social interactions for those suffering from poor mental health. Many people are suffering from isolation and loneliness due to the COVID-19 pandemic and we wish to alleviate these stresses by bringing people together in a safe and welcoming environment.  Within the flower beds, we wish to plant a fruit tree/ bush in each to create a free fruit supply for the local community.

Pitlochry Community Action Trust (PCAT) in conjunction with the Aberfeldy Development Trust seek funding to stage two Eco Fairs, one in each town, next April (2024). The purpose of an Eco Fair is to provide opportunities for local people to engage with organisations and individuals who can help them use energy more efficiently, reduce their energy bills and their environmental footprint and help promote a more sustainable lifestyle to the whole community. The use of sustainable transport, including public transport, active travel, e-bikes and electric vehicles will be a theme of our next Eco Fair. Sustainable food, reduction of food waste and sustainable gardening along with reducing packaging waste and recycling are also part of our agenda. 

Overall objectives are: to reduce the environmental impact of individuals and therefore the community. Specifically: •    To encourage household energy saving through local energy advisors such as The HEAT Project, Warm Connections, Home Energy Scotland and Warm Homes Scotland. •    To promote a more sustainable lifestyle to local people through local food initiatives such as Pitlochry Garden Share, •    To promote active transport through businesses such as Escape Route (e-bikes) and government grants available to support the purchase of e-bikes, •    To promote more sustainable travel, through public transport, Community Car Shares and electric vehicles.

We want to stage the Eco Fairs in our Town Halls partnered by The HEAT Project and Warm Connections. We need to hire these facilities and promote the event throughout our communities and outlying areas. Eco Fairs are family friendly events, and we want to put on activities for children and provide refreshments from sustainable sources to encourage families to attend the Fairs. We will market the Fairs in local magazines, in our schools, on our websites (www.pitlochryaction.org.uk/ and www.aberfeldydt.org/), as well as on those of our contributors, and through the distribution of flyers. 

Participating organisations: The following organisations participated in a Pitlochry Energy Fair in November 2023. All reported that information was shared with enough individuals for it to be a worthwhile investment of their time and expressed interest in future events. The HEAT Project, Home Energy Scotland, Eolas Architects,  Studio East Architects, RW Bell Green Energy, IS Plumbing and Heating Fife (Vaillant), Pitlochry Garden Share, and Escape Route. 

In total around 50 people attended the event, with the Heat Project signing up 13 new clients. Activities for children enabled parents to engage with contributors in a relaxed way and free refreshments encouraged them to stay longer and discuss the potential of their new knowledge with one another and contributors.

Eco Fairs: If we receive funding we can expand on what we achieved on both our stalls in Pitlochry Coop and November’s event where we engaged with our community about what local support they needed in regard to both the ongoing Energy Crisis which an element of the Cost of Living Crisis and include an event in Aberfeldy and invite other organisations to participate including: 

MG electric vehicles, who have already expressed their interest, Other electric vehicle dealers, Enterprise Car Share and CoMoUK Car Share, The Atholl Centre Food Bank and Community Larder, Breadalbane Community Larder, Handam Refill Shop, Glen Lyon Coffee Roasters and Wasted Degrees, Birdie’s Clothes Shop and Roobedoo Sustainable clothes, homeware and gifts, Aberfeldy & Pitlochry Repair Cafes, Healthiest Town, Aberfeldy and Citizens’ Advice, Dun Coillich Community Land Trust, Aberfeldy & Pitlochry Climate Cafes, and PKC Climate Action Team.

Outcomes: We will monitor the total number of people attending and seek feedback from participating organisations as to the number of clients arising from the Eco Fairs. We will produce a short report on each Fair for both Trusts and for Green Living should you fund us.

Broke Not Broken support those living in poverty across Kinross-shire.

Part of this work is support through food parcels, but supporting people with food parcels we find they are often in receipt of food that may not be suitable to them for a number of reasons. This food can then be discarded, or returned to the food bank, meaning there is a waste of resources, food miles and energy spent. It means people don’t get what they need: suitable food. By supplying digital vouchers we will eliminate that waste of food, energy, fuel and time for both clients and volunteers. As we deliver food parcels by car to people’s home, moving to digital vouchers (if that is their preference) means less time spent in cars on the road delivering parcels. Food vouchers give dignity and choice to those who are living in poverty.

We would like to trial using vex an online shopping voucher distribution system to reduce food miles, as well as reducing our plastic waste through our current system of vouchers.

We work closely with referral agents across health and social care as well as a number of community organisations to ensure people access the correct advice and maximise their income where possible.

Foodbank running costs have increased by 37% over the past year. This is partly increase in demand with a 20% increase food supports required than the previous year, and partly rising cost of food.

Whilst we continue to work hard to meet the needs within the community we also look to combat the affects of climate change and work in line with PKC cash first approach this new pilot project for a six week period would significantly reduce our food miles and plastic usage while enabling us to meet our goal of providing dignity and choice; and give us the opportunity to assess the feasibility of this as a model moving forward. As a charity we have already taken a number of steps to work within an environmentally friendly manner, we grow our own produce in our garden, and source locally grown vegetables (where we cannot meet demand) and dairy; we run a school uniform project which encourages re-use and recycling of uniform across Kinross-shire; use local butchers and bakery for our winter warmer parcels all working within an eco-friendly manner.

So If you think that…

-You would like to reduce poverty across Kinross-shire

-We should protect our environment and that small changes can add up to make a big difference by reducing our food miles across Kinross-shire.

-People should have dignity and choice about the food that they eat.

Then please support us by voting for our Reducing Food Poverty and Food Miles across Kinross-shire Project.

Thank you

Broke Not Broken