8th Jul 2020
GGC Interview with Glasgow Care Foundation
Tell us about Glasgow Care Foundation?
Glasgow Care Foundation is a small charity which was established in 1874 before the NHS and Welfare state to relieve mendicity (poverty). Fast forward to 2020 and our work remains the same, we support individuals and families in the city living in hardship in the form of the provision of white goods, bedding, furniture, flooring and other household items. Where there Is a lack of food we supply supermarket vouchers to relieve hunger.
Additionally we award local community grants to organisation for outings, children’s activities and support services for vulnerable people.
How has Covid-19 Pandemic impacted the way you work?
Covid-19 has had a major impact on our work, normally prior to any support being awarded a home visit takes place, this was not possible during Covid19 and our suppliers were closed therefore we were unable to offer help in relation to our core work.
There are currently 37% of children in Glasgow living in poverty, a very high number of them experience daily hunger and as a result of the Covid-19 school closures they were not able to even have their daily school meal. Parents were struggling to feed their children on limited budgets, some losing their jobs and others temporarily laid off not on full salary, coupled with children being at home all day this situation was significant. Some mums stating ‘the kids are eating me out of house and home’.
How have you adapted to keep supporting the people of Glasgow?
To ease the burden on a lot of families during Covid-19 we purchased £40,000 worth of Asda and Aldi supermarket vouchers. These vouchers were distributed through Health visitors to issue to families in desperate need of food. Additionally, we donated over £11.000 to support community organisations, like food banks who are distributing food to people who are isolated or in poverty. We will continue with this new focus meantime with the hope that by the Autumn we can resume our core work.
What can the people of Glasgow to do help support Glasgow Care Foundation right now?
Make a donation on our website however small to support the continuation of our work, organise a fundraising event on our behalf (sponsored sports event, coffee morning), raise awareness of what we do through word of mouth, engage with us on our social media platforms, share our story, encourage anyone business’s you know to consider us as their Charity of the Year.
Anything else you would like to share with the Glasglow Girls Club followers?
We are a very small charity with one full time and two part time staff, we keep our running costs to a minimum subletting a small office from another charity, our Board of Trustees are all voluntary, we receive no government funding therefore appreciate any donations we receive. Unfortunately we cannot take second hand goods as we have no storage or distribution facilities.
https://www.glasgowcarefoundation.org
