Father and son team praise Glaswegians for their outpouring of generosity
A father and son team who run a foodbank in Glasgow has praised citizens for their generosity following clashes in George Square at the weekend.
Andrew and Darren Carnegie held a reconciliation talk on Saturday morning in George Square following violent clashes orchestrated by unionists the night before.
However after mentioning their foodbank, Glasgow’s Needy, they were inundated with more than 2,000 carrier bags of donated food.
Darren - pictured far right with a food bank volunteer - said: “It was a stark contrast to Friday night.
"I would say we had about 2,000 bags and we left George Square with eight vans and 11 cars filled with food. It's all quality food from top supermarkets.”
This shows the true heart of Glasgow and what it’s all about
Darren said the scenes of violence showed a tiny minority of Glaswegians and their bigotry was not representative.
“That’s why we were down there with our peace flags, to show Glasgow is a good city with good people."
Between November and January, Andrew and Darren organise a foodbank, which this year helped 300 struggling Glaswegians.
“The intention was to speak about peace, about ending bigotry and hatred, and we got on to our food bank,” said Darren.
“There was a spontaneous reaction and soon we had to ask friends to come down with cars and now our living room is absolutely stowed with food.
“This shows the true heart of Glasgow and what it’s all about.”
Grant Campbell, chief executive of Glasgow City Mission, which helps the city's homeless, said the reaction shows how Glaswegians respond to people in crisis.
He said: "I love Glasgow dearly because that's how it responds to issues of crisis.
"People want to do something tangible and help in situations where there are issues of need.
"Foodbanks catch people who are just coping, and the danger is without them, they will drop into crisis."
Despite the no campaign winning the referendum, 53.49% of the electorate in Glasgow backed independence.
