“I go meet Paul the driver at the bus and we fully sanitise it before we set off. The driver does the front and I do the back so we can keep the physical distance needed to stay safe. After we have made sure that we have all the safety equipment, face shields, gloves and sanitiser, we head to the food hub at Fetlor. It’s strictly one bus in at a time so there are less people around.
Poundland at the West End of Princes Street were collecting as part of a national effort to ‘support those who care for our elderly.’ They had a donation box set up in their shop as part of their 75th anniversary VE day celebrations.
The store also promised to match every item donated. The donation box was open last week and closed for any donations on Friday 8th May. On Saturday they donated an amazing eleven bags of items!
We would like to say a huge thank you to the continuing support PEP is receiving from local businesses and food outlets.
Today we would like to thank M&S; who are continuing to arrange food donations for PEP. Driver Darin heads to the store three days a week to collect the contributions. PEP staff then sorts the food and delivers the parcels to a pre-arranged list of local people.
We are now one month into our food delivery service!
Over the last 4 weeks we have worked with our partners to deliver over 9,000 nutritious meals to vulnerable people across Edinburgh.
Thanks to our friends at Scran Academy, 67 keyworkers are now trained to deliver meals in a safe and secure manner. 40 volunteers have been helping to cook, organise and deliver.
Easter Saturday was a busy day for Theodora from PEP and John from Scran Academy. They used the day to co-deliver Covid-19 Safety Training Guidelines for frontline keyworkers who will be taking on roles delivering food to people who are at health or food risk during the Covid-19 lockdown period.
While the front line staff and volunteers are visible out and about in the community, delivering food to those in need; there are others who have been beavering away in the background.
PEP is now working with ‘Scran Academy’, ‘Prep Table’ and ‘Fresh Start’ to create a Strategic Development Plan for meal deliveries; to be rolled out across the city. Currently the Scottish Government are being kept up to date on the initiative.