The Eric Liddell Centre has received funding for a second year from the Celtic FC Foundation
An Edinburgh care charity has embarked on a new project to ensure people across the city eat well this winter.
The Eric Liddell Centre has received funding from the Celtic FC Foundation to enable the charity to provide home-cooked meals for some of Edinburgh’s most vulnerable people.
The charity has been providing key support to vulnerable people across Edinburgh for 40 years and has been leading through its expertise to change perceptions of living with dementia, disabilities and mental health issues.
The newly launched Lunch Collection Programme is the second year that funding from the Celtic FC Foundation has enabled the centre to provide winter-warmer lunches to support vulnerable isolated people, some of whom are living with dementia.
John MacMillan, chief executive of the Eric Liddell Centre, said: “The Eric Liddell Centre’s Lunch Collection Programme was launched this month and builds on our successful Lunch Delivery Programme that was supported by Celtic FC Foundation in 2020, which delivered almost 5,500 lunches to vulnerable people throughout the city of Edinburgh.
“The new programme again aims to support meals provided Monday to Friday every week until the end of March, when we hope the present COVID-19 restrictions may be eased to some extent. Our chef will be able to provide up to 50 wholesome and healthy lunches each day for individuals who really need this crucially important support.
“We’ve made a solid start since the beginning of January and have provided 126 lunches for local people to date – their loved ones, family or carers collect their freshly prepared food from the Eric Liddell Centre and take it home to be enjoyed. We aim to have delivered 2,000 to 3,000 lunches to local people by the end of March.”
The developing situation with Covid-19 and national guidelines inspired the Eric Liddell Centre to seek to relaunch the lunch provision - one of its most appreciated community assistance programmes in 2020. The programme targets vulnerable people, who are living locally to the centre from the EH9, EH10 and EH11 areas.
The charity’s first city-wide Lunch Delivery Programme was also supported by the Celtic FC Foundation and the Eric Liddell Centre’s neighbour, McLarens on the Corner, during the first lockdown in 2020. The project started on 6 April 2020 and delivered over 5,400 lunches during 14 weeks of operation with the help of over 70 volunteers.
MacMillan added: “As a community hub we do everything we can to keep the local community together, especially now during these difficult times. The aim of this wonderful food service, the Lunch Collection Programme is to support and to focus on the most vulnerable people living in our neighbourhood. We are very thankful to the Celtic FC Foundation for their ongoing support and for allowing us to give back to the community again by supporting them with much needed lunches. “
