The kind hearts of Angus readers have been hailed by the county’s ever-growing foodbank.
Absent-minded but generous lenders are helping some of society’s most vulnerable people with an innovative scheme that swaps fines for food.
Until March 8, a month-long campaign is seeing the slate wiped clean for those who have failed to return their library books if they bring them some food instead.
Council communities vice-convener Jeanette Gaul said: “The library amnesty has been on for just under a week and already a lot of people have taken advantage of the chance to have their overdue fines wiped clear.
“There is so much on offer in our libraries and we want to make sure people don’t have to miss out because of a previous bad debt.
“Our library team are looking forward to warmly welcoming back even more members over the next few weeks as the amnesty continues.”
The amnesty campaign is expected to provide a much-needed boost to Angus Foodbank, which has seen an unprecedented spike in demand over recent months.
In 2013, nearly 1,000 Angus residents, including 231 children, were forced to turn to emergency food supplies from the charity just to survive.
Malcolm Brown, volunteer manager for Angus Foodbank, said: “Since April 1 2013, Angus Foodbank has distributed 8,417kg of food to 1,010 people by giving them three days’ worth of food in their food parcels.
“This has been made possible through the support of many churches, community groups, concerned members of the public and Angus Council, who have supported us.”
Last year, Dundee City Council declared a similar operation a “huge success”, after sorry borrowers brought back nearly 4,000 items worth £10,000.
To accommodate this surge in demand, Mr Brown and his team of volunteers have been forced to adopt an aggressive expansion strategy.
With a number of grants in the works, and plans to open a new store in Forfar under way, the volunteers have got plenty of work cut out for them in 2014.
Yet Mr Brown says this influx of support from campaigns such as the Angus Council’s new library fines amnesty prove that locals are up to the task.
Photo by Angus Pictures