A city charity that feared it could shut down due to the newly-installed LEZÂ has been saved by a generous benefactor.
Care Hub Aberdeen, which works from Church of Christ on George Street, had been using an old van that would not pass the low emissions standards of the new rules.
While the group gives out meals outside the LEZ zone – many of the donations from places such as Greggs, M&S, Bookers and Pret are inside the zone.
The low emission zone – known as an LEZ – was brought into force on May 30, and anyone breaking the rules is charged £60 to enter the city centre.
That meant that the volunteers from the group would not be able to pick up the daily donations, and people in need of their services would go hungry.
That was until a generous benefactor, Jim Ingram, from Turriff, bought the hard-working group a van, that can drive into the LEZ area.
The van was ‘a relief’
One of the founding members of the group Michelle Houghton, from Aberdeen, said: “It was a relief. The donation of a van has blown us away.
“We were using a van passed onto us by the Glasgow Homeless Project in 2020. We thought we would have it for six months, but here we are.”
She said: “We didn’t know what we were going to do. Ultimately if we were not able to pick up donations we would not have been able to pass on the food. We would have had to close.
“Not only would people who rely on us go hungry, there would have been food waste in the city.”
The group opens two days a week on Monday and Thursday from 6.30pm to 8.30pm and works out of the car park of the George Street Church.
Care Hub, Aberdeen was established by Michelle and Angela McAllister from Turriff.
They are supported by volunteers and have been giving out meals since being established four years ago during Covid.
They cater for around 100 people each day they are open. The charity has around 500 people on its books.
Michelle, who also accepts donations at The Fun House on George Street, said: “It has been a really worrying deadline as the LEZ came into force.
“You have to be in the city centre to get these donations, and people who dropped off the donations from the other side of the city were affected as well.
“The main thing was that while we give away food outside the LEZ, we needed to go into the zone to pick up food. We didn’t know what we were going to do.
“It’s the last thing we needed.
‘We have 500 people on our books’
She continued: “The LEZ is just causing problems, and that is on top of the bus gates.
“We really hope people are not put off helping us. It is a spanner in the works and the LEZ makes it more difficult for people to help us.
“It is uninviting to go into the city now. The authorities seem hell-bent on something that most people believe is not needed.
“We want a vibrant city centre. When you see pictures from the 1980s there are plenty of cars and busy streets in the city centre. There were no problems with air quality then.
“It is diabolical.”
Mr Ingram, who donated the van, said he didn’t want any praise.
He said: “It is the volunteers who do all the work, and I wanted to help. I have watched Angela for a long time on Facebook, and they work so hard.
The Groundworks boss said: “I think it is amazing what they do at the care hub,
“It is incredible the number of people they help.
“I didn’t really do anything, they deserve all the praise. They do incredible work.”
The van has the Care Hub logo on each side, and at the back doors Mr Ingram’s business has a small logo.
