£100k charity boost to help feed elderly and vulnerable people in Edinburgh from bank's Covid fund

A leading charity which supports Edinburgh’s elderly has secured £100,000 backing from a special Covid-19 fund set up by Barclays bank.

LifeCare Meals on Wheels team - Eddie Williams, Iwonna Morgan and Tony Akers

The cash boost means that LifeCare Edinburgh will be able deliver its important new ‘meals on wheels’ service set up to support some of the most vulnerable and isolated local older people through the crisis.

The Stockbridge-based charity has almost 80 years of experience supporting older people living across the city. The range of support services offered by the care organisation allows older residents to comfortably stay in their own home for longer. For example, the charity runs essential help at home services, registered outreach services and hosts three day centres for those with dementia and the frail elderly living throughout the city.

However, the crisis and the subsequent restrictions, has radically affected the usual range of in-person care services proudly offered by the charity. LifeCare has had to quickly evaluate, adapt and launch new programmes of support, such as this new meals on wheels service, to ensure that those in need continue to receive the high-quality support older people urgently need.

Grateful: David who receives LifeCare's meals on wheels service

Kirstine Fergusson, Interim CEO of LifeCare, said: ”We are so grateful to Barclays for this phenomenal level of support. The £100,000 award will enable our dedicated teams to deliver 100 hot meals a day to some of the most vulnerable and isolated older people living across our local communities right now. We all know that the colder, winter months ahead look a little harder for us all this year, but this is particularly true for the people we continue to support every day."

Scott Stewart, Head of Barclays Scotland, said: ““This crisis has had an unprecedented impact across Scotland and we know this is an incredibly challenging time for many communities. By reaching those most in need of support LifeCare is playing a vital role in this crisis.”

This new meals on wheels service will be managed by the team working within LifeCare’s renowned community café on Cheyne Street by their Help at Home service. The small team will deliver 14,000 freshly prepared hot meals across the coming months mainly to local older people most affected by the restrictions.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.