James Fisher Offshore donate trailer to make Inverurie's Catalyst Vineyard Church Storehouse a mobile foodbank
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Those struggling in Inverurie's outlying communities are set to benefit from a partnership between Catalyst Vineyard Church and James Fisher Offshore.
The Oldmeldrum-based oil and gas service company gifted the Inverurie church with a trailer to use as a mobile foodbank.
The trailer has been fitted with electricity, shelving, storage and a fridge to enable the setup of a storefront style foodbank.
This will allow the church to provide a mobile service to support even more families in the area, especially those living in remote areas with no, or limited, access to transport.
James Fisher Offshore, who specialise in decommissioning, first supported the church in the run up to Christmas in 2020 by donating and delivering hampers to those in need.
They also set up a weekly fresh fruit and vegetable donation which continues to be ongoing to this day.
The Covid 19 pandemic was extremely challenging for many families in the area, and as a local business it was important to James Fisher Offshore staff to see where and how their donations were making a difference.
Manager David Willett popped along to check out the trailer in action last week when it visited Oldmeldrum, and heard first hand about the difference it is making to struggling families.
He said: "We have been helping for a few years, we first got involved just before Covid, and we have found it to be really rewarding.
"You can see how grateful people are when you deliver a parcel, and you hear about the difference it makes."
Catalyst Vineyard's Carrie Roberts-Haritanov said: "There are no words to explain the difference this will make, not just to how we are able to help people but also to how people receive help.
"We hand out around 25 parcels each weekend, it works out at about 75 people that we're helping every weekend.
"Now we can take the foodbank to the people who need it, especially in Oldmeldrum, Kintore and Kemnay, who maybe struggled to get to us before.
"We're always on the lookout for more volunteers, especially anybody who can tow the trailer on a Saturday.
"As well as the various pre-existing drop-off points, we are now able to accept donations to the trailer too which is great."
For more information you can visit the Storehouse Food Bank - Inverurie Facebook page.
