Amazon (Gourock) has dug deep to donate £10,000 to help feed vulnerable people in Inverclyde.

The management at the distribution giant’s Faulds Park base handed over the cash to Inverclyde Community Action Response Group (ICARG), who has been leading a major relief effort in the district since March.

One of the group’s 10 services is to provide food, delivering 800 meals a day to support people not covered by the official shielding category requirements and support the existing service from Branchton Community Centre and Belville Garden.

The group now produces around 1,000 meals a day out of Inverclyde Community Development Trust’s kitchen at Devol, in Port Glasgow.

They utilise it three days a week and the Cafe Continental in Gourock is the hub one day a week.

Lorna Sharples, site leader at Amazon Gourock, said:

“When we heard of the incredible work the Inverclyde Community Action Response Group was doing to support the local area with their prepared meal service we immediately wanted to support their fantastic efforts.

“Amazon Gourock is proud to be part of the community in Inverclyde and we wanted to recognise the vital work ICARG is doing by making this donation and thanking them for everything they are doing for people during these challenging times

Louise Hunter of ICARG says she was overwhelmed by the generous donation:

“When I pitched the idea of donating to Darren Rix, Amazon’s UK head of community engagement, he was so taken with the co-ordinated approach that ICARG has delivered.

“He had to go to head office in Seattle to get sign-off to make a much larger donation.

“I was hoping for £1,000 which would come out of the company’s local community funding pot, but we were absolutely delighted that Amazon recognised the work we are doing and made an incredibly generous donation of £10,000.

“This gave our fundraising a considerable boost and took our fundraising efforts to £31,000, which includes the Salvation Army Just Giving Page, grants from the Scottish Government and other sources.”

Louise says that Inverclyde’s high rate of Covid-19 deaths and pockets of deep deprivation means that the food provision service will remain a priority for months to come and ICARG are already looking at ways of building on it.

Louise continued

“We are now looking to support Belville’s Recipe Box scheme, which is going down well with people.

“One of the outcomes is to give confidence to those families who don’t know how to cook, or who cook rarely and tend to rely on pre-cooked or takeaway meals to form a major part of their diet.”

Anyone looking to support ICARG can donate here.

Article and Image Courtesy of Greenock Telegraph.