Council funding for Food Train Glasgow ends as the financial years comes to a close.
A Glasgow older people’s charity faces a race against time in its fight for survival as its council funding comes to an end.
Food Train’s volunteers and staff are desperately seeking ways to keep its lifeline shopping delivery service in the city going as concerns deepen about the impact of its potential closure.
Glasgow City Council has funded the bulk of the charity’s operations since it launched locally a decade ago, but rejected its latest three-year funding application in January. The final day of its financial support is Friday, March 31.
Supporters have since been rallying to stave off closure as the charity, which delivers food and groceries to 400 people across Glasgow, works tirelessly to find longer term funding sources.
In the past month, more than £7,000 has been raised through a crowdfunder campaign, while Food Train has also sold its minibus - used for trips by its befriending project - to buy extra time for the shopping operation.
Food Train Glasgow manager Chris Curtis said: “Every pound we receive is critical in keeping our service going for as long as we possibly can. Our crowdfunder is affording us time to explore every other possible funding opportunity.
“Without us, so many older people are going to be in dire straits. People who we see on a daily basis tell us about how worried they are about what’s going to happen if we weren’t to be here.
“As a team of staff and volunteers, we feel we’ve got an obligation to do what we can. Our members need us because they have no other local support system or family nearby, they are going to struggle without us.”
In the past 10 years, Govanhill-based Food Train Glasgow has made more than 67,000 grocery deliveries.
In the aftermath of the council funding cut decision over 5,000 people also signed a petition calling on authorities to find some way of supporting Food Train’s work in Glasgow.
Food Train works with more than 3,000 older people each year across Scotland.
