by Stuart McFarlane

A LOCAL charity has been shortlisted on a supermarket chain’s national campaign, with the chance of securing up to £15,000 of support.

West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare has been nominated for Scotmid Co-operative’s Community Connect initiative, which allows its members to award local good causes with funding generated through the sale of single-use carrier bags.

Shoppers can collect votes via Scotmid members swiping their Community Connect cards after in-store purchases and then cast their votes for their preferred charities via the West Region’s annual general meeting in April.

The charity is one of three selected by a special panel to receive awards of either £15,000, £7,500 and £2,500.

West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare is a charity covering Clydebank which helps those struggling with the impact of food poverty – distributing food, toiletries, toys and uniforms to those in immediate need, alongside agencies providing longer term support.

The funding would help the charity volunteers launch their “Cooking and Growing” project, which allows people to grow their own food and produce healthy meals on a budget.

It will also be used to connect with those suffering hardship and teach them cooking skills, before supplying cookery equipment to make their own meals.

The charity’s trustee, Clair Coyle, said: “We’re obviously delighted to have been short-listed for Community Connect funding.

“The project we are aiming to roll out will be a valuable resource for the people we support.

“We’re very excited about what we can achieve and the Community Connect funding will enable this all to become a reality.

“The people we support are all experiencing the effects of poverty. We want to be able to educate people about how they can eat nutritional meals by using cheap ingredients – eating well doesn’t have to cost a fortune.”