Founder of Street Pastors to tour projects in Scottish towns and cities
The man who started the Street Pastors movement famed for caring for late-night revellers is touring Scotland for the first time. The Rev Les Isaac’s seven-day tour of all 17 Scottish projects will mark the fifth anniversary of the street-based aid organisation in Scotland and its 10th anniversary worldwide. He visited Edinburgh yesterday and earlier [...]
Food banks chief in starvation warning
Food banks are all that stands between some families and starvation, according to the head of a network of projects providing free groceries to destitute Scots. The claim comes ahead of a summit meeting in Bathgate today bringing together workers from 25 Scottish food banks run by the Trussell Trust with MSPs, charity leaders and [...]
Salvation Army welcomes ‘Walking the Breadline’ report
The Salvation Army welcomes the report today and agrees that food poverty and increasing reliance on emergency food is not sustainable for those trapped in the cycle of dependency. From the very beginning, The Salvation Army set itself against hunger. When our founder William Booth first began his ministry, he reached out to the poorest [...]
Food banks now a lifeline for half a million people in Britain
Massive cuts to social safety nets have led to “destitution, hardship and hunger on a large scale” in Britain, with more than half a million people now forced to rely on food banks for sustenance, key poverty charities have warned in a report. Welfare changes and mistakes by Jobcentre Plus staff are causing delays in [...]
Walking the Breadline: the scandal of food poverty in 21st-century Britain
Although the UK is the seventh richest country in the world, many people struggle to afford even the most essential of goods: food. In this ‘Walking the Breadline’ briefing, Church Action on Poverty and Oxfam highlight the rise in food poverty in the UK, where over 500,000 are now thought to be reliant on food [...]
Dundee foodbanks are running dry
Poverty in Dundee has reached such a critical level that even foodbanks are running dry. Volunteers today told how people are “struggling to cope” because of changes to benefits and other financial pressures. The revelation comes as the city ploughs £1 billion into a massive revamp of its waterfront, with a £45 million outpost of [...]
Kirk tackles digital divide: ‘Church of Scotland is totally switched on’
The Church of Scotland is totally switched on [sic] and committed to tackling the digital divide [sic]. The digital divide is the gap between those in society who have access to and the resources to regularly use new technology including the internet, social media such as Twitter and Facebook, and those who are unable to. [...]
Youth Moderator makes plea against domestic violence
Speaking to the General Assembly this afternoon, the Moderator of the National Youth Assembly, Euan Patterson, urged all male delegates to support the White Ribbon Campaign against domestic violence. The National Youth Assembly brings together a diverse group of young people and aims to give them a voice within the church. In August 2012, they [...]
Church of Scotland care services under threat
The head of the Kirk’s charity wing has warned it will be forced to consider the future of some care services if local authorities keep cutting funding. The Reverend Syd Graham, convener of the Church of Scotland’s social care council, said it would not run “cheapo” services for councils in the face of falling funding [...]
Guild in rallying call for new members
The Church of Scotland Guild has issued a rousing, rallying call to recruit new members including more men and younger people and for new groups to be set up. Reporting at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, today, Tuesday May 21, Mary Ford the organisation’s Convener made her plea as the Guild celebrates [...]
