The Food Train
Published: 12 May 2020
This week we would like to highlight the work of Dr Kate Reid’s research partner, The Food Train
Dr Kate Reid, Lecturer in Psychology (School of Psychology and School of Education) has been researching (with Dr Catherine Lido) and recently volunteering with charity and social enterprise, The Food Train.
The organisation has been supporting older people in the community for over 25 years through delivering groceries, volunteer meal making and befriending. They have now found themselves on the frontline during the COVID-19 outbreak and have demonstrated ingenuity and flexibility at this time to ensure ongoing food security and social connectedness for many older people who live at home, many alone.
Our older population are suffering more than most and have been asked to socially distance from their friends and family. Food Train offer a compassionate and individualised service and they are now needed more than ever as they rapidly expanded to meet a surge in demand.
In just four weeks, they have expanded their services by 59%, reaching 685 more older people to get fresh grocery supplies, with 340 new volunteers on board (including Dr Kate Reid!) and 775 check-in phone calls made to older people at home.
They have welcomed a surge in new volunteers while many of their longer-term volunteers are themselves self-isolating as they are in the over 70 group. Dr Reid and others have been supporting them to mobilise their pool of new telephone befrienders with our greatest asset at the University, our students! with support from UofG SRC.
She has also been featured in last weeks Sunday National - https://www.thenational.scot/news/18405936.covid-19-pandemic-change-food-preferences/.
You can find more info in the quick links section on this page.
First published: 12 May 2020