Throughout the pandemic, Cfine has been supporting people dealing with financial difficulties, food poverty and more recently during Storm Arwen.
Hundreds of people each week rely on the charity for emergency food donations, demand for which has only grown over the past year.
After the wind died down, the charity also stepped up to help people through the fallout of Storm Arwen – by circulating mobile foodbanks around the hardest-hit regions and identifying vulnerable people for support.
However, chief executive Fiona Rae has explained that the charity’s work doesn’t stop there.
Backed by an army of volunteers who serve as office staff, warehouse workers and delivery drivers, the charity functions on the kindness of others.
Often those helped by the charity go on to form the backbone of its future works.
They have also introduced a new warehouse employability scheme.
Working in tandem with Aberdeen City Council, workers come in for several weeks at a time to help out with operations and leave with transferable skills.
Help is there for anyone who needs it
While the charity has a clearly defined main objective, tackling poverty in the north-east, it has many avenues to chase this goal.
One is the Warehouse Skills Development Programme, which is run with the help of Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeen Foyer, City & Guilds, NESC, Oilennium, BM training, and other partners.
The programme aims to ensure participants receive high-quality training from experts and to prepare people for their careers by obtaining industry-relevant qualifications.
Fiona Rae, Cfine chief executive, said: “The employability courses have been very successful; participants from the last course are now making their way towards employment.
“We are on our fourth course at the moment, which has a total of eight participants, all of whom will have done two weeks so far.
“They will stay on with us for another six weeks where we will continue to give them skills needed to add to their careers. We will run more courses for anyone who wants to apply in the future.
“As an organisation, we are here to help; aid is available for those needing food but also for people looking for financial help or to learn new skills.”
Support, Advice, Finance and Education
In addition to their community pantries, foodbanks and skills development programme, the social enterprise also runs a support team.
SAFE, which stands for support, advice, finance and education, is an initiative that works to ensure people are claiming the benefits they are entitled to and improve their household income.
Funded by the Fairer Aberdeen Fund and The Scottish Government, the initiative provides support for:
- Benefits and budgeting advice
- Volunteering to improve your employability skills
- Credit Union membership
- Digital skills training
- Applying for crisis loans and community care grants
- Skills development training through volunteering
Those needing help can call up and will be directed to a member of the team for assistance.
Ms Rae added: “Help will always be available to those who need it. A lot of the people who have come to us for help in the past return to help people in the future, either as volunteers or staff.”