Dollar Academy pupils hold lunch cafe with Village Kitchen
The kids helped out at the Village Kitchen, a social enterprise based in Dollar, which aims to provide meals on wheels to elderly people across the whole of Forth Valley.
On Thursdays, the Village Kitchen hosts a lunch club at the Hive Community Centre in Dollar, with over 65s turning up to have a meal prepared for by the kids.
Alexandra Ostroumoff-Croucher, CEO and founding director of Village Kitchen, was delighted to welcome the pupils in, which is part of a thriving relationship between the kitchen and the school.
Alexandra said: “We’ve been collaborating with Dollar Academy for four years now, since the start of the pandemic.
“They gave us use of their main kitchen when the school was closed at the start of meals of wheels. That collaboration has gone from strength to strength especially recently.
“They contacted us and asked if they could run the lunch club service one Thursday so they sent over a couple of chefs and cooked a three course meal for the guests.
“Eight of the pupils came along as well and they worked as servers in the café. They were all lovely and it was good to see cross-generational conversation and interaction for the seniors that attended.”
The Village Kitchen lunch club attracted around 20-30 elderly people in attendance, all of which were over 65 but the majority were in their 80s.
The kitchen offers a taxicab service to shuttle the attendees to their meetings, catering for people who may not be able to get out as much on their own.
The catering at Dollar Academy has recently been outsourced to Thomas Franks Foundation, which helped to promote the community outreach projects the school has undertaken.
Raj Singh, director of charity at the Thomas Franks Foundation, said: “The Thomas Franks Foundation have been proud to partner with Dollar Academy on this project which promotes citizenship and community.
“A big thanks to the pupils in the Charities Committee at the school for volunteering their time generously and enthusiastically.”
