Christmas in Dalkeith and Livingston

The festive season is always busy for Social Bite with dinners served in our cafes in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and this year we were busier still with extra dinners added to the schedule in Dalkeith and Livingston.

In Dalkeith, what began in October as a women and children’s weekly social supper, in conjunction with a variety of other services, has been growing in popularity ever since, and the celebratory dinner on Christmas Eve was attended by 73 people.

This innovative partnership project, which offers a one stop shop for many services, including on the spot prescribing for addiction medication has already proved lifesaving, and attracted interest from other areas.

As a result of the successful Christmas dinner it has drawn even more attention and has been commended by the Chief Executive of Midlothian Council Dr Grace Vickers, as a “great example of partnership working”.

Of the Christmas Eve dinner in particular, she said: “This amazing event grew from the Thursday Women’s Supper which takes place every week.

“Social Bite provided the food and gifts through their Itison Campaign and the Midlothian Justice Team helped with putting the items into gift bags. 73 individuals had a full three-course Christmas meal. All unused food was put into containers and taken home by those who wanted it.

“Words can’t really convey what this event meant to the recipients.”

Livingston

A chance phone call the week before resulted in Social Bite providing food for 150 people at the Livingston Station Community Centre on 23^rd December.  Organised by a group of enthusiastic community volunteers, Santa also attended and there was singing and crafts for the children who made the table decorations.

No presents were required. Last year Social Bite had helped Kaiam workers who had been paid off just before Christmas, and this year, they decided to do their own Pay It Forward by volunteering at this community event and bringing presents for those in need.

By the end of the celebrations there was still a considerable amount of non-perishable food left and this was delivered to the food bank in Livingston where it was expected to feed around 100 families.