Guest blog from Katie Sproull, Project Leader at Interfaith Glasgow
Interfaith Glasgow is an award-winning charity promoting positive engagement between people of different religions and beliefs in Glasgow. We work to facilitate constructive dialogue between people of all faiths and none, and we aim to build friendship and cooperation through a variety of projects and events.
Part of our work is the facilitation of the Interfaith Food Justice Network (run in partnership with Faith and Community Scotland), which provides a networking space for local faith, belief, and community groups who work to combat food poverty. This can be people who run community cafes, soup kitchens, and food banks, groups who hand out emergency food provisions, along with campaigners and activists. Ultimately, it is a group for anyone working to build a fair and just food system.
Autumn Networking Event: Glasgow South East
On the 24th of October 2019, the Interfaith Food Justice Network held a networking event for individuals and groups to meet and learn about the various food initiatives in the south east of Glasgow. This event also provided people the opportunity to offer and receive advice regarding their own community groups and initiatives.
The event was funded by the South East Integration Network and was specifically focused on encouraging connections between groups in the South East.
We were hosted by Al Falaah Academy in Govanhill and we hired catering from two local social enterprises, Milk Café and High Rise Bakers.
To showcase some of the fantastic initiatives in the South East of Glasgow, we invited Catriona Milligan from Bridging the Gap who presented the High Rise Bakers’ work and Naheed Asghar from Pollokshields Development Agency who gave a presentation on Pollokshields Community Fridge. We also heard from Abi Mordin, Chair of Glasgow Food Policy Partnership and Glasgow Community Food Network, who gave an overview of their work bringing city wide organisations and sectors together to develop a sustainable and fair food strategy for Glasgow.
Attendees had an opportunity to network and learn from each other. This was through sharing knowledge and practice (e.g. regarding distribution of emergency food, running community cafes and food banks, and even composting tips); listening to people working with exciting initiatives in their local area; being able to have their questions answered after the presentations. We also provided attendees the opportunity to advertise their own events and services to other attendees who could potentially extend the circle of reach for service users and participants. It was an opportunity for individuals and organisations to broaden their knowledge of local work, thus being able to signpost service users.
One participant described the event as “very Informative” and added “great to see so many smiling faces and great food. Would love to come back to this every season.” Another said it was “excellent that folk get together and discuss and learn from each other.”
Find out more
Find the Interfaith Food Justice Network on Facebook
Contact: katie.sproull@interfaithglasgow.org
