The manager of Dundee Foodbank said he is incredibly thankful to a local takeaway owner who donated 100 meals.
Ibrar Ibrahim, owner of Ronaldo’s Peri Peri Chicken in Fintry, has donated a number of times to the foodbank.
Ken Linton, manager of the Dundee Foodbank, said: “The donation is huge. Ibrar has supported the foodbank over the past four or five years with Christmas meals.
“He has obviously just opened Ronaldo’s in Fintry and decided to kick it all off with this donation.
“So we were able to pass them out to our clients as a wee extra. So it’s brilliant as it’s a wee extra that goes along with the normal three day emergency food parcel.”
‘Dundee has been very generous’
Ken said that generosity from the people of Dundee was always heartwarming.
He added: “Dundee has been a very generous city to the foodbank.
“Our donations have not gone down at all during the pandemic, even though there is a number of people who might be struggling, others have stepped up and supported us very strongly through our collection points.
“Even donations to the doors from churches and schools – these people are still supporting us, that’s never dropped off at all thankfully, because we need that.
“My concern at the moment, is that when furlough finishes, is there is a possibility of redundancies in the city? I don’t know, none of us know, but we are preparing ourselves for that what happens if scenario.
“That’s the best way to keep the stock piles up and hopefully be in a position to help more people in crisis.”
He added that the foodbank was currently low in UHT milk, tinned deserts and toilet roll.
Coping during the pandemic
Dundee foodbank has coped reasonably well during the pandemic, with Ken saying they didn’t see too big a rise.
He said: “Last year, when Covid kicked in, so March, yes there was an increase. But with the number of new food provision outlets across the city starting up, our numbers kind of settled down to being sensible levels.
“On April 1 until this Monday, we’re down 28 per cent on the equivalent of last year. Part of that will be because at the start of the pandemic we were quite busy at that point.
“But at the moment, we’re more level to where we were a couple of years ago. At this time of the year, you’re looking at 90 being the average number of parcels we give out a week.
“That’s because during the winter a lot of people are having to choose between heating and eating. So when you get good weather in, you don’t have that issue. But even last week, over 100 parcels went out, but there doesn’t seem to be any reason why it’s built up again.”
Ken thanked Ibrar for his generosity and added: “We’re always so grateful to anyone who takes the time to donate.”