Luca's ice cream teams up with Diced to feed vulnerable community members

What do you get with a scoop of goodwill, along with a dollop of community action and a sprinkle of nutrition?

Mackenzie Law, 13, Kay Smith, 16 and Sam Collins, 17.

The answer is some very satisfied tummies in the South East of Edinburgh.

Edinburgh institution S Luca dairy ice cream has teamed up with meal prep company, Diced, to help administer several tubs of ice cream along with nutritional meals to vulnerable members of the Moredun-Inch-Gilmerton community.

The dynamic partnership has achieved this tasty goal through harnessing the hard work of the volunteers at Goodtrees Neighbourhood Centre (GNC).

Joan McLean with her ice cream and Diced meal.

Nichola Connell, manager at Luca's Morningside, said:"It’s been a really tough time for us here at Lucas with Covid restrictions making life really tricky. We’ve continued to persevere and our staff have been great at adapting to all the new safeguards we have put in place but, with the announcement of the most recent lockdown, we made the tough decision to close our shops for the safety of staff and customers alike.”

When Luca’s had to close shop they still had hundreds of litres of ice cream and did not want it to go to waste.

But staff at the ice cream parlour had heard of Goodtrees and the great work they were doing with young people delivering meals to the elderly and vulnerable in their community.

Nichola, along with with her niece Caitlin Tierney, 6, scooped out the ice cream into lots of tubs - some larger ones for families and some smaller and single tubs for the elderly.

Frank Cartwright with his ice cream from Luca's

Nichola added: “It was really nice to hear our ice cream brought a wee smile to folks faces and was a bit of a conversation starter. Lockdown is tough for everyone, but particularly for the more vulnerable members of the community and we’re pleased that we’ve been able to give folks a wee treat and maybe brighten up their day with an ice cream.

“Although our shops are closed at the moment, we are still taking orders for ice cream deliveries at our website.”

The tubs of ice cream were distributed alongside meals from Diced - who have been helping to support some of Edinburgh’s most vulnerable residents with nutritious meals throughout the pandemic.

Diced have so far provided free meals to the tune of £30,000 to families and the elderly who have relied on Goodtrees for support during the pandemic.

Sam Delpacido, CEO of Diced, Said: “All my team work that bit extra to put meals out in the community. I’m from the Inch myself so I know how many can go without.

“Everything we provide is calorie controlled and allows for folk to live a healthy lifestyle.

“It has meant a lot to me to help vulnerable families and the elderly stay fed. If I never ran a meals company then my grandparents could’ve been struggling too. The government gives next to nothing so it means we have to step up.”

John Beatson, manager at Goodtrees, said: “Thank you to Luca’s for providing ice cream for our residents. Everyone has a story about Luca’s and it brought about a lot of nostalgia and made for great discussion.

“Diced meal preps have been providing us with 500 meals a week since around March and I cannot thank Sam and all his staff enough.”

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