Local Community Action Key to Fighting Poverty
Graeme has marked Day 5 of Challenge Poverty Week by highlighting the vital part local communities have to play in tackle poverty in Angus.
Local community groups and volunteers across the county undertake a crucial role in supporting those who need it most.
A standout example of this in Angus is the Monifieth & District Community Fridge, to which Graeme paid a visit in the summer.
A community fridge is a space that brings people together to share food, meet up, learn new skills and prevent fresh food from going to waste. They’re open to all and anyone can share or take food, including surplus from supermarkets, local food businesses, producers, households and gardens.
Fridges are run by community groups in shared spaces such as schools, community centres and shops. There are over 600 fridges across the UK (and counting).
The SNP Government has been keen to support community volunteering more widely, launching Scotland’s Volunteering Action Plan in 2022. The plan aims to create an environment where everyone can volunteer, more often, and throughout their lives, with a specific focus on tackling inequality within volunteering.
Actions identified in the Volunteering Action Plan include:
- Increasing public awareness of volunteering and to tackle stereotypes around what it is and who volunteers
- Engaging community assets, organisations, and local leadership to maximise the contribution of volunteers
- Increasing the opportunities available to volunteer: widening the breadth of opportunities and increasing access for under-represented groups
- Promoting the ‘value’ of volunteering more widely
- Building knowledge and skills within inclusive volunteering, reducing bureaucracy, and widening standards of practice
Communities the length and breadth of Angus have a strong and proud history of neighbours helping neighbours, and I am keen to support this community spiritedness and raise the profile of key volunteering efforts.
GRAEME
This is an important part of the overall picture of tackling poverty, with communities and volunteers so often on the frontline of this fight.
Organisations like Monifieth Community Fridge are doing a power of work in their local area, with this being an example of one which is also key to tackling food waste at the same time.
It is right that during Challenge Poverty Week we celebrate and recognise the vital efforts local groups make – and as their MSP I am committed to supporting them in any way I can.
