A group that is helping to feed vulnerable people in Dundee has warned it will run out of money to fund its operation within days without support.
Dundee Thegither has been using its own money to deliver food packages to people in need across the city.
A previous fundraiser earned around £900, but that is running out.
Dundee City Council (DCC) has been passing on referrals to the group, which delivers about 30 food packages a day but because it is not registered as a charity it is unable to access official funding.
Members had hoped they might be able to access a share of a £370m pot for “small, local charities working with vulnerable people”, announced as part of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s wider £750 million package to prop up ailing charities through the health crisis.
But because Dundee Thegither, which was originally formed to protest a planned appearance by Nigel Farage in Dundee last year, is not officially a charity, it cannot complete the application process.
Heather McLean, one of the group’s founders, said: “All the forms have questions such as who is on our board of trustees, but we don’t have anything like that.
“We only just started doing this in response to everything that’s been happening. We didn’t have time to set ourselves up officially as a charity.
“We are working seven days a week to help people who don’t have anything. We’re all volunteers and working on good will, but you can’t feed people on good will alone.
“Nobody seems to be helping us. We are falling between the cracks.
“The council pass referrals to us and expect us to pay for everything.”
A Dundee City Council spokesman said the authority was sorry that Dundee Thegither had been struggling with referalls and said it would help it to access funding from elsewhere.
“We are continuing to develop the way we respond to food emergencies through our helpline but we have assured the project that they will not receive any further inappropriate referrals,” he said.
“Dundee Thegither and all the other emergency food projects are doing an amazing job helping people when they need it most and the council wants to do everything it can to support them.
“The Scottish Government has just published arrangements for the third sector to access the national food fund and we will ensure that the group can make an application to this. There is a huge effort ongoing across Dundee between the council and city partners to help people and communities who are being hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.”
Donations to Dundee Thegither can be made to the Paypal account
PayPal.me/wellybates
or emailing dthegither@gmail.com.
