Why are we crowdfunding?
We have more than 75 beneficiaries – most in their 80s and 90s, the majority of whom live alone – who rely on our services.
We have been fortunate to receive funding in recent years to cover 50% of our income requirements to run our multiple community services. However, this year the amount of available funding in the third sector has significantly reduced putting Village Kitchen at real and immediate risk of closure. We desperately need support from our community to be able to top up our finances to ensure the future sustainability of our work beyond the summer.
Please read on to learn more about what we do and how we positively impact seniors in our community and help any way you can.
Who are we?
Village Kitchen is a not-for-profit organisation that has been supporting seniors in Dollar, Muckhart and across wider Clackmannanshire for the last four years. We provide hearty, healthy, home cooked Meals-on-Wheels prepared by our own cook and community volunteers. We have a team of volunteer community drivers who deliver meals twice a week, checking in with our senior beneficiaries to make sure they are well. This service has been a real lifeline for many in our community.
We run our very popular weekly Lunch Club Café at the Hive Community Centre in Dollar. Our team of friendly volunteer drivers bring less mobile guests to us, with most guests being in their 80s and 90s. Guests are treated to a three-course lunch, often with live entertainment. Some of our guests love to get up and have a dance or sing along!
We run monthly adapted mini bus trips - "Big Day Out" - for our seniors, taking them to local tourist sites, beauty spots and shops, opening up Forth Valley to a group who, due to mobility, health or transport needs have been unable to travel beyond their homes.
Community impact
We send out between 100 and 200 two course meals every month as well as providing meals to patients coming home from Forthvalley Hospital as part of the Forthvalley Home from Hospital Partnership. To date we have delivered more than 10,000 two-course meals.
Our Thursday Lunch Club welcomes between 25 and 35 guests each week and is the highlight of the week for our beneficiaries who love to come along and eat and chat with friends they wouldn’t see otherwise.
We take up to 16 seniors on our bus trips each month and this greatly improves mental health and wellbeing, reducing isolation and loneliness, opening up the Forth Valley to our seniors.
Our services have a hugely positive impact on our beneficiaries physical health, providing quality and nutritious meals to ensure a healthy diet with plenty of meat, fish, fruit, veg and diary.
We also greatly enhance quality of life and independence for our local seniors, allowing them to care for themselves in their own homes, preparing their own meals. This, combined with the opportunity for social interaction at our lunch club and with our meals-on-wheels delivery volunteers, greatly improves mental health and wellbeing. Our services help ensure our seniors stay connected and have access to equal opportunities in our community.
How we’ll spend the money raised
Money we raise will be put towards weekly community lunches, purchasing high quality food items to create hearty, healthy and delicious menus! It will also help with vital core costs - contributing to the rental of community space, utilities, core staff, purchase of food and green food packaging.