An Inverness cafe dedicated to helping the vulnerable is to introduce a new scheme for those sentenced to community service to volunteer behind the counter to cope with rising demand.
Café 1668, located on Church Street in the city centre, has been offering free meals to people for two years as a gesture to vulnerable people needing a good meal.
Customers attending to similar places like Inverness Foodstuff have risen in recent weeks due to the cost of living crisis and the same can be said for Café 1668.
Many patrons coming for free meals already make difficult decisions between eating and heating, and the rise in food prices has only added to that.
The team at the cafe has noticed more of a mix of people coming for a free meal, from 12-2pm Monday, Wednesday and Friday, aligning with Inverness Foodstuff which is open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
The cafe prides itself on its ability to offer free meals and a food larder for people to come and help themselves and not feel judged as “everyone is feeling the squeeze”.
More helping hands
Now, a new pilot scheme allowing those serving community payback orders to volunteer will begin this month, providing much-needed extra assistance at the café.
Val Cooper, volunteer and placement coordinator who is leading the scheme, said: “This is a new project being set up in partnership with the community justice service, where people who have been given community payback hours will have the opportunity to spend those hours in the cafe.”
The aim is to have current volunteers “buddy” with new volunteers, helping them with health and safety training, barista training and kitchen skills.
This will help upskill and attempt to rehabilitate those serving community payback, which can be more effective at stopping people from reoffending than jail time.
Ms Cooper said: “It’s a really important scheme because it’s raising awareness of what we do in the cafe but also helps those become rehabilitated and have the skills go into employment.”
Currently, seating at the cafe is limited to 25, but sometimes it serves 30-40 meals, so the volunteers can be stretched.
The new scheme means the team of 10 volunteers can have more flexibility in the hours they help out, says manager Roy Harrison.
Mr Harrison has worked at Cafe 1668 for over two years delivering the free meals scheme but says lately it’s the worst he’s ever seen it.
He says while serving free meals, “every single seat is taken up by people” and the café relies on food donations, forcing them to be creative.
Sanctuary for those needing meals
Volunteers typically offer one meat and one non-meat option, such as macaroni and cheese or chilli with rice.
Mr Harrison said: “I think sometimes the fact that we are here is wrong. We shouldn’t be here and there shouldn’t be a need for what we are doing.
“But we are required, we offer meals, the food larder, there’s a computer for people to access Universal Credit, but I ask myself ‘Should we even be here?'”
Diana Thorn, a regular at Café 1668, comes more for the company and says it really is a social cafe.
“I come for the company more than anything else. Because of Covid, there’s been no socialising, so I’m feeling it more now than ever.
“This is a safe place to come, so I know I can come, and there is someone to speak. I have even been a volunteer here, and you get to learn more about your community.”
Café 1668 also receives monthly donations from the charity Cfine, mainly sanitary products for people who can’t afford them in Inverness.
Mr Harrison says that while he is aware that rising costs could have consequences for the cafe, he knows that now is the time to be there for others.
“I just get on with it, we have a service to provide, and we get on with it.
“To see some of the people that come in off the streets you do feel sorry for them, so if we can help them out even just a little then we will.”
Conversation