Earlier today, some of the Dunedin Advisory Dundee team arrived at the door of one of Dundee’s charities to deliver a ‘Secret Santa’ gift to a very worthwhile cause – Signpost International and their Community Kitchen at the Roundhouse.
Dunedin’s Robyn Murray commented, “Last year, rather than giving each other ‘Secret Santa’ gifts, we chose to donate cash gifts to individual charities across Scotland. This year we’re going one step further giving all donations to one charity who provide cooked meals to people needing them most, especially at this time of year.”
Signpost International opened its centre in Dundee in 2014 and in March 2021 they launched their first UK food project – the Roundhouse Community Kitchen with a mission to transform surplus food destined for waste into freshly prepared, nutritious meals for distribution by foodbanks and larders across the city to people in need of support.
With an estimated 26,000 tonnes of food being wasted every year in Dundee alone, no-one should be going hungry. The Community Kitchen, in partnership with food provision charities, plays a vital part in tackling the issue of hunger that exists locally.
In October 2021 the Roundhouse Café officially launched and is open to all. It has the same vision as the Community Kitchen: to play a part in closing the loop between food insecurity and food waste. In addition to providing some typical café dishes, it serves daily specials made from surplus produce diverted from waste. Profits generated from the Café are reinvested back into the Community Kitchen, enabling them to continue providing meals to emergency food provision organisations.
A pay-it-forward scheme also allows people to buy and donate meals on behalf of others. This ensures that those on lower incomes can access a meal free of charge. Dunedin Advisory also subscribed to this service today by matching the team’s Secret Santa gift.
We were delighted to meet with Jamie Morrison, CEO and Caroline Bentley, Food and Health Development Officer at the Roundhouse to drop off what Caroline specifically asked for: ‘mountains of vegetable stock cubes and blocks of white cheddar cheese’. Saying, “It’s amazing the dishes we produce that start off with these two basic ingredients!”
