Christmas cheer delivered across Huntly

SOME very special Christmas deliveries have taken place in Huntly this week.

The roll out of 50 hampers began on Monday and today 75 ready to re-heat Christmas dinners will be delivered in the AB54 area by a team of seven.

The food hampers were prepared in a project delivered by the Neep and Okra arm of Deveron Projects. Distribution began at 9am on Monday and the operation, Covid safely managed, with people coming at 10 minute intervals, continues until today.

Aberdeenshire North Foodbank co-ordinated requests from people for the three course meals, prepared either by The Market Cafe or Fly Cup Catering.

The hampers contained ingredients for a traditional festive lunch and recipients also received a £10 voucher for butcher Forbes Raeburn, a gift voucher to the same value and recipes to help them make the most of their food goodies by using up leftovers.

Debbie Rennie, manager of the Aberdeenshire North Foodbank said that there had been a real sense of the community coming together to make the ventures possible.

She said: "It has been good to work with other groups but I still feel there will still have been people who are too proud or feel embarrassed to come forward to ask for help.

"Going forward, as a community we need to address what the alternatives are to address festive isolation and food insecurity."

Laura McNeil of the Neep and Okra project said: "Our team is happy that we have been able to do something positive for families giving them some festive sparkle and taking the weight of their shoulders to help them have a happy Christmas.

"We are grateful to the individuals and businesses who so generously added to the funding we secured and made it possible for us to fill the hampers so well."

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.