A new project is being launched in a Moray town to help support older people in the area who may be feeling lonely.
Moray Foodbank is partnering up with Elgin High Church to offer a weekly lunch club open to all within the New Elgin region of town.
The aim of this new scheme is to reach out to the more vulnerable members of society who may not otherwise socialise with others or eat a nutritious meal.
Reverend Stuart Duff, minister of Elgin High Church, hopes that the clubs will allow them to find out more about members of his congregation and beyond.
He said: “We’ve done things together in the past with Moray Foodbank, more one-off things as they have used the church for events including previous one-off fundraising lunch clubs so we have already made the link there with them.
“As a church, we were quite interested in running something more regular like a lunch club.
“It’s aimed at people in our Parish, which is New Elgin and is our way of reaching out into the community in partnership with the food bank as we do not have the resources they have got.”
The project received a £5,000 funding boost from the Church of Scotland’s Go For It fund, which will go towards setting up the lunch club.
Rev Duff wants to make more contact with the people in New Elgin so he can find different ways to help the community.
He said: “We want to use this to find out what the needs are for the elderly in New Elgin, like retired people or those in danger of being a bit isolated, this will simply provide an opportunity for them to come out and meet other people.”
Moray Foodbank and Rev Duff hope to start the lunch club in February and want it to be the first step of a potential programme of activities for older people.
Other ideas they have included are a plate sharing initiative and cooking lessons for men.
Mairi McCallum, project manager at Moray Foodbank added: “Our development worker will be in place by the beginning of February and we will begin the lunch club soon after; we are happy to be working with Elgin High Church and look forward to recruiting new volunteers from their congregation.”
