Social Bite launch free food delivery service to support vulnerable people in Scotland

Social Bite have launched a food delivery service to help vulnerable Scots affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

The social enterprise announced plans to deliver free food across the country from tomorrow with the help of a crowdfunder.

It is hoped the initiative will support those most affected by Covid-19, including homeless people, people who have been made redundant and families with children who are entitled to free school meals.

The announcement, made by co-founder Joshua Littlejohn and posted as a video on Twitter, follows the closure of Social Bite’s five cafes during the outbreak.

Hello everyone. We want to tell you about how we have been affected by the Covid-19 outbreak and how we plan to respond – hopefully with your support.
A thread. pic.twitter.com/NKyR8bYxle

— Social Bite (@SocialBite_) March 19, 2020

In a complete re-purpose of the enterprise, kitchens will produce and staff will deliver 3000 food packs a day to some of Scotland’s most vulnerable in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

More than £9000 has been raised on the crowdfunding site since this morning. There is an £100,000 target to ensure the service has the funds to go ahead.

In a statement for the crowdfunder, Joshua said: “Like with every hospitality business all over the world, the coronavirus outbreak has put Social Bite’s future into great uncertainty.

“Furthermore, the homeless and vulnerable people we support on a daily basis will be the worst affected by this crisis. Imagine being homeless, having no option to self isolate or stock up on supplies, with many support services you were relying on closing down.

“Alongside homeless people there will be thousands more people who end up in food poverty, families who were relying on free school meals and those who have just been made redundant due to the crisis.

“As of Friday 20th March, we will be re-purposing our entire organisation to create a nationwide food delivery service – focussing on getting supplies out in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. Our kitchens, cafes and teams will be entirely re-deployed to produce and deliver food and supplies to those who need them most for the duration of this outbreak.”

He added that the Scottish Government are supporting the initiative.

You are able to donate to Social Bite on JustGiving.