ONE of the area’s leading food banks is taking its charity on the road to combat food poverty as well as recruiting new members.

Food For Thought have announced a 12-month plan including changes to their community project to help deal with the immediate fallout of the pandemic and tackle food insecurity across the area.

The food bank has stated how grateful it is to local volunteers who stepped up to eliminate any issues during lockdown for people who required emergency food aid for those who couldn’t travel to reach the foodbank.

And now they said they will have distribution centres in Dumbarton from Monday to Friday, Alexandria on a Tuesday, Dalmuir on a Monday and Clydebank on a Wednesday.

The food bank will also begin work with other agencies across West Dunbartonshire such as Dumbarton Area Council on Alcohol, West Dunbartonshire Council, DWP, Citizens Advice and others to combat food poverty.

A Food For Thought spokesperson said: “This new plan was the only way forward for us. We have to respond to what is happening in our community and not only alleviate food insecurity for people when we provide food, but provide a much more person-centered approach and deal with the core issues of their circumstances.

“This plan allows us to really focus on the people we support even more and help them back to some level of normality.”

Lorraine McLeish has been promoted to become operational admin lead while the food bank has added two new recruits – with Lorraine McCullough as community coordinator alongside Jessica O’Malley as an admin assistant.