Father and son make huge donation to Wick's food bank
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Caithness Foodbank's Wick centre has benefited from the generosity of two local convenience store owners.
On Monday morning, a large pallet of food and other essentials was delivered by a KeyStore lorry to the Sinclair Terrace premises thanks to the efforts of Younes Amin and his son Rehan, who run shops at Hillhead and Bridge Street respectively.
With many people struggling with financial issues due to the pandemic, the role of food banks has become particularly important.
The shops run by Younes and Rehan are both part of the KeyStore convenience store franchise – and the regional development manager for the company, Graeme Dawson, drove up from his Inverness base to help with the offloading.
"These guys are just putting something back into the community," Graeme said.
"Throughout Scotland we have 180 stores and in each one of them there are community dump bins where customers donate to the food banks. It's a KeyStore initiative."
Graeme said that he was delighted to be there as the Highland representative for the company and described Younes and Rehan as "very good retailers" for the far north.
Younes said: "This is a donation from both KeyStores – Hillhead and Bridge Street – for the food bank. We've donated before but this is personally from ourselves."
Referring to the struggles many people are facing during the pandemic, Rehan added: "It's just really good to give something back at a time like this."
Pat Ramsay, steering group member of Caithness Foodbank, said the support from Younes and Rehan "has just been incredible".
She added: "They've supported us through Covid times and even before that.
"They've got drop-off points in their stores where people can donate food and they've gone over and above to give more and more."
Pat said the Amins liaised with the food bank to see what was needed so they "weren't inundated with soup and beans" which they have plenty of.
"We got the things we need from them. For instance, we needed oatcakes, crackers, deodorant, and things like toilet roll – and that's what we got."
Grant Ramsay, chairman of Caithness Foodbank, reiterated the words of his wife Pat and thanked Younes and Rehan for "being as generous as ever".
"We're particularly busy at the moment with referrals from various agencies. We get referrals from folk like the Citizens Advice Bureau, Pulteneytown People's Project, mental health and doctors."
Grant said that clients using the facility are not coming into the building due to current restrictions but High Life Highland volunteers have been "very supportive" by helping deliver food parcels to the needy.
"We can make up bags for people with special dietary requirements, whether it be vegetarian or gluten-free, for example. We make accommodation for these things as best we can."
He said that the food bank will even help with food for pets as well. "A lot of folk who are struggling would rather feed their dog or cat than themselves."
Grant fears that the situation may get worse for many people with furloughs ending and some put out of work because of the pandemic.
"I think we may get really, really busy in the future."
