Meet the Dumfries and Galloway team helping bring Christmas dinner to struggling families

Twelve months ago Dumfries community activist Lee Vann-Wakelin went out grocery shopping and helped one family struggling to put Christmas dinner on the table, this year he wanted to help 150 families.

His team have been sourcing and packing more than 1000 meals into these brown bags at both the Dumfries Men's Shed and the Cresswell community centre. Seven Local restaurants have also partnered with the organisation and have made seven menus to prepare original meals for the Christmas period.

Ann Marie Coulter, Summerhill Centre Families and Youth Officer, "The families we are working with are very proud and they want to be able to provide as much as they can, but they need to be able to make ends meet and sometimes their weekly wages aren't enough and that is where it is so important  for them to make us aware of this so we can help as much as possible through initiatives like this."

A report from the Joseph Rowntree foundation published just a few weeks ago claims that a quarter of Scottish children live in poverty. 

Marita Barr, Lighthouse Church Dumfries, said: "The pandemic has also created more issues for people and I have found people have been reaching out asking for help but that is a good thing, but it has definitely increased, there is a lot of job loss around us, we are seeing families struggling"

YouTube tutorial videos and digital versions of all the food menus with their ingredients are also available online to help the families have a more interactive cooking experience this festive period.