NGCFI’s Strategic Goal is to empower individuals and communities to lead practical, sustainable food-related projects within the diversity of communities within North Glasgow. Our Milton Food hub runs a broad range of activities. Our community Café offers delicious home cooked meals and baked goods. We offer a “pay what you feel” approach and you can join us for a cuppa, a snack, a treat or a 3 course lunch. We run a Fruit and Veg Barra and Community Fridge alongside the cafe to provide access to affordable fresh food, fruit and vegetables, well delivered by a large group of volunteers.
We brought together members of community food organisations with a shopping activity to share experiences of service users by asking them to complete a shop in a foreign language. This aims to create a culture of understanding regarding the challenges faced by people who participate in food provision charities. In particular, the focus was on dignity, the emotional effect of being in food poverty and dealing with linguistic and cultural differences.
The shopping activity allowed attendees to experience the negative emotional feelings that can occur when the principles of Dignity in Practice are not observed. Often these negative experiences and feelings are overlooked or minimised by delivery staff and volunteers who themselves may be experiencing a level of distress in delivering services to marginalised communities.
By reversing the roles, it is hoped that delivery teams become less inwardly focused and more open to the experience of service users. Participants will experience the barriers that exist and gain an insight to the emotional effect that can cause difficult interactions to arise. Additionally, discussions in response to these operational difficulties may help organisations in their “conversion rate” of new attendees into regular service users.
We hold quarterly “Food Hub Group” steering meetings that allow for volunteers and local members of the community to input into every aspect of our services. The Food Hub Group take an active role in the design, development, and direction of the project. Meetings discuss all aspects of ongoing work and how they are doing. We have been working with this community-led model for over a decade.
The Food Hub Group also reviews survey information and decides how to move forward. Local people will say if something is not working and offer ideas for change. We follow a simple model of Plan, Do and Review. In between meetings we have regular communication and two-way flow of ideas.
A local resident and volunteer said of food hub meetings: “They are a necessity.” Why? “To get together if there are any problems, needs are sorted out and you are kept up to date. We get the chance to improve what’s happening in the area.”
People are able to take part in community life through a variety of free activities, including therapeutic gardening, volunteering, and groups such as Art classes, Walking groups, Sewing Bees, Writers groups, and Cookery Classes. These activities are designed to be inclusive, regardless of financial circumstances. A Community Engagement Officer supports service users, while a Volunteer Coordinator ensures that volunteers can participate without financial barriers, covering transport expenses and providing lunch. Our Café operates on a "Pay what you feel" basis, welcoming everyone without expectation or exclusion due to financial limitations.
Our Cafe, Barra and People’s Fridge are volunteer run. We hold weekly feedback sessions to allow for the volunteers to express their views and experiences that are used to better shape the service that is offered. The final decision on all matters is by consensus of the volunteer delivery team.
“When I arrived at Milton Food Hub, I was nervous about meeting people as I am rather shy… over the months I felt more confident, and I felt I belonged in the group…. because of this I was more talkative, the people in the group were listening to my voice, they cared what I thought.” – Deborah, Cafe Volunteer
Our Community Cafe , Fridge and Barra is delivered by volunteers from the local community. We have 22 Active Volunteers in Milton. Many involved in the delivery of services did not have previous customer service or hospitality experience but are supported to bring their particular skills, knowledge and personality to the shared endeavour.
We provide formal training for Mental Health First Aid, First Aid, REHIS Food Hygiene, Manual Handling as well as informal sessions for hospitality training and developing interpersonal skills.
We also work with partner organisations, such as Nourish Scotland, to deliver training on Dignity in Practice in addition to other training such as Trauma Informed practice and Addiction/Recovery training.
Consistency: Ensuring all staff and volunteers uniformly understand and apply the principles.
Resource Constraints: Limited time and resources for comprehensive implementation.
Cultural Sensitivity: Adapting principles to diverse cultural and individual needs.
Sustainability: Embedding the principles into daily practices over the long term.
To overcome the challenge of ensuring the Dignity Principles are fully understood by all staff and volunteers, we implement trauma-informed training and regular reflective practices that integrate these principles into our daily work. Weekly team and volunteer meetings provide a platform to discuss emerging issues and reinforce the principles. The Volunteer Delivery Team in Milton actively contributes to the agenda, ensuring that the Dignity Principles are consistently referenced and applied in problem-solving discussions. This approach fosters ongoing learning and ensures the principles remain central to our practice.
We have had a Dignity in Practice whole team and volunteer training session which was very insightful and well received. Regular reviews of that day and the principles also helps us to embed best practice and reduce the challenges we face.
We would recommend that they attend a training session to fully understand how by implementing the principles you are actually making service provision easier, not harder. Many of the challenges that arise in our service delivery happen because the principles are not applied.