THE Vine Centre in Dunfermline, who provided more than 100 people a day with a free meal during the pandemic, has been praised for it’s incredible work in a new report on the work of the church across Scotland during lockdown. The ‘Free Meals Dunfermline’ service has been described as a “life-saver” by those who were supported by the scheme. One of those who were impacted by the kindness of the church was a single-parent family, where the eldest child, a 10-year-old girl, is the main carer of the mum. The mum-of-two, who has a brain injury, was struggling to provide a well-balanced meal for her children as they would normally receive this when they were at school each day.
Agenda: Churches bring essential Christmas hope Last week saw the end of level four restrictions for almost half of us living in Scotland. Those of us living under them have been enjoying visiting shops, gyms and cafes again, and generally being able to go places indoors. Particularly if we want to meet someone – Scotland, outdoors and December is not a heady mix. We are all looking forward to getting our ‘non-essential’ life back in order. Yet there is one group of community buildings that did not reopen this weekend – our churches – for the simple reason that even under level four they were never forced to close.