Kingdom Housing Association has made a £300 donation to Kirkcaldy Foodbank to assist the charity in its mission to ensure that nobody in the Kirkcaldy area goes hungry in times of crisis.

Freya Lees, chair of Kingdom, said: “I am pleased that Kingdom is in a position to support local charities, which share the aims and objectives of the association. We recognise and support the good intentions of Kirkcaldy Foodbank to alleviate food poverty.”

She added: “As a registered charity, Kingdom shares many of the objectives that the Kirkcaldy Foodbank pursues. Kingdom owns and manages around 4000 social rented homes and many of the homes are in the Kirkcaldy area. We appreciate some of our tenants may be finding it difficult in the current financial environment and may seek assistance from the Foodbank.”

Receiving the cheque, Ian Campbell, chair of Kirkcaldy Foodbank, explained: “Kirkcaldy Foodbank is an independent food bank and a registered charity with its own Board of Trustees and it is organised and staffed entirely by volunteers. We are totally a locally focused community charity, entirely run by volunteers, nobody gets paid, and we do not pay for premises or vehicles. Everything we get goes towards buying food.”

And Mr Campbell revealed that demand for the foodbank’s services is soaring.

He said: “Now in its third year of operation, Kirkcaldy Foodbank, working closely with a wide network of referrers has seen demand increase steadily year-on-year. Since starting we have been able to provide in excess of 10,000 food parcels. A comparison of monthly totals for April, May, June and July 2015 with the same months in 2016 reveals a 60 per cent increase in need. On average, the Foodbank is currently feeding on average 580 hungry people every month.

“We have worked with Kingdom since we started and I am extremely grateful for their donation which will help contribute to the sustainability of the Foodbank.”

Mr Campbell also said he wanted to recognise and thank the dedicated team of volunteers who work with the Foodbank on a regular basis, for their tremendous dedication, commitment and community spirit.

Bill Banks, chief executive with Kingdom, who visited the Kirkcaldy Foodbank with Freya Lees and met some of the volunteers, said: “We were very impressed with the excellent work being carried out by the Kirkcaldy Foodbank and the range of services provided by the volunteers.”

Bill added: “One of Kingdom’s objectives is help provide added value through community initiatives and supporting projects like the Kirkcaldy Foodbank is an example of the type of assistance we can provide, in the areas where we operate. Kingdom can grant small donations to support the work of local charities and we recently approved our Community Initiatives Fund, where requests for donations can be considered from local groups, clubs, individuals and organisations operating in our local areas.”

More information on Kingdom’s Charitable Fund and the Community Initiatives Fund is available on the Kingdom website: www.kingdomhousing.org.uk.