Fruit and Veg Barra

St Paul’s Youth Forum is based in northeast Glasgow, an area that can be classified as a ‘food desert’, with the nearest supermarket more than a mile away and no grocery stores locally. With a small NHS grant, they started a fruit and veg barra in their community centre, providing a choice of high quality fresh food from the wholesaler for cost price, as well as eggs from their own hens. They offer smaller portions of cut-up veg for those living alone and give away produce from the garden to people to try for free. Since they started to ask people in their community directly what veg and fruit they would particularly like, they have experienced a huge increase in customers – most of them local families. Volunteers run the stall, and people come to socialise and share a cup of tea with others in the community while getting their groceries in the centre. Any leftovers items are used in the project’s community meals or sold at a reduced price.