Edinburgh charity Empty Kitchens, Full Hearts provide 50,000 meals to most in need in just two months

Empty Kitchens, Full Hearts, was founded in April as a direct response to the coronavirus crisis with the aim to provide local residents with safe access to healthy food.

The Leith-based organisation is run entirely by volunteers, including over 30 out-of-work chefs, and takes surplus foods which would otherwise to go waste to create packs to feed someone for a day. To date, over 15,000 kg of food has been saved and redistributed locally.

Food packs of breakfast, lunch and dinner are delivered directly to the doors of those in need while there are two daily hot food services on-site - “Lunchtime on Leith” - serving around 100 locals every day.

Lewis MacLachlan, founding director of Empty Kitchens. Full Hearts, said: “While I am thrilled that this initiative has been a huge success, reaching the 50,000 meals milestone isn’t a celebration, but a stark reminder of the dire situation hundreds of thousands of people across the country have found themselves in.

“The meals we provide will often be the only nutritious food these people will get, and without organisations such as ours, thousands of people in our local area would be going hungry.

“Although Empty Kitchens, Full Hearts was founded as a direct response to the coronavirus crisis, there’s no doubt in our minds that we’ll be needed for the foreseeable future as more and more people find themselves out of work and without safe access to food, and we are looking at sustainable ways in which we can continue to help those most in need.”

If you, or someone you know, does not have safe access to food, you can contact Empty Kitchens, Full Hearts to arrange delivery, or go to their kitchen at The Old Dr Bells Baths at 121 Great Junction Street for the hot meal service between 11:30am to 12:30pm or 4:30pm to 5:30pm daily.