As Friday night football arrives at Dens, The Society continues the Community Initiative with a visit from Food Train, a charity which provides a solution for elderly people with mobility problems by delivering groceries.
Community Director Jacqui Robertson went along to the Food Train to meet Regional manager Grant Simmons and find out what the charity means to the local community. "The Food Train is a grocery delivery service to older people who are 65 and over and live in Dundee who can't do their own grocery shopping because of ill health, frailty or mobility problems. As long as they cover the three areas; over 65, live in Dundee and have a reason why they can't get their shopping, someone can make a referral on behalf of their relative - or the person can make the referral themselves, that's not a problem. It's just a case of phoning us up and we fill out a simple form and get them started as soon as possible."
Asked what coming to Dens mean to Grant and his team, he told us, "I think it's really important because it's raising awareness of what we do. We've got 2 vans out on the road and people may have seen them with their distinctive logo and wonder just exactly what Food Train is, so it's about raising awareness of the project and maybe getting people to look on our website and find out more about it, or to take one of our leaflets - have a look at it, put it in your pocket and take it home. I'm sure you'll know of, if not a relative, then a neighbour who might benefit from the service."
Coming to a football ground has been an unusual experience for most of the community initiatives, but Grant spoke of its importance, "It's about getting out to as wide a range of audiences as possible. I do presentations to church groups and women's guilds. There have been presentations in supermarkets as well so it's great to get to football clubs too, with thousands of people we can address. We have 114 customers already, as well as looking for additional customers, and we've only been going since the end of January and we are always looking for volunteers.
"We have over 50 volunteers to either drive or help out on the van and we need volunteer shoppers in the supermarkets."
Dundee FC Supporters' Society would like to extend a warm welcome to Grant and everyone at Food Train, and would urge fans to take a moment to visit their information stand and have a look at what they do.