Column: Food for thought whilst filming charity at work

I’m a bit of a perfectionist and so, rather than digging out old articles or radio and television packages which I’ve created over the years, I’ve decided to do everything again from scratch.

As a result, I’ve spent the last fortnight digging for news stories and piecing my portfolio together around the contribution which local news has in the national media. I’ve found myself in the company of some incredible projects, one of which I’d like to raise awareness of.

A couple of weeks ago, you’ll recall the Kersiebank Community Project on the front page of the paper, pleading for donations to their food bank. After getting in touch with the chairwoman I was given the opportunity to do a bit of filming inside the project.

I met with one of the members of staff and spoke with a gentleman who benefits from the free food parcels which are given out from the centre. After chatting to both of them for a while, I started to understand how much of a staple services like that are in the community. After the article was published in the paper, the donations at the food bank shot up. These interviews made me realise food poverty is a growing issue and it breaks my heart knowing it took for a plea in the paper to encourage people to donate.

Understanding what’s going on in our community is something which is crucial to the town’s spirit and it’s great to see people are keen to help charitable projects. But it shouldn’t take a cry for help to encourage people to give.

The past weeks have shown me there are many opportunities to help those around us.