BBCA group of teenagers from Maryhill in Glasgow who started cooking for vulnerable residents during the pandemic say their lives have been transformed after they started volunteering. The project is thriving – and has also helped change perceptions of young people in the area.
Getting involved in the project has been life-changing for 17-year-old Shantelle Conaghan, who helped come up with the idea of delivering hot meals to vulnerable people in the area.
“It means a lot because if I wasn’t here in this building I’d be probably trying to find a job and struggling out in the community. I’d probably be homeless, kicked out,” she said.
Having grown up in the Wyndford estate, which is one of the city’s most deprived areas, Shantelle is determined to help others.
“I like helping people who look as though they’re struggling in life,” she said.
“They deserve a chance. We want to help homeless people especially, because there’s a lot of homelessness in Maryhill right now.”
Every Tuesday morning, the group collects food donated from the local Co-Op, along with produce grown in a nearby garden, and make hot meals.
In the afternoon, they drive to the Wyndford to hand them out to waiting residents.
Dimitri, a refugee from Russia who lives on the estate, says the food is a lifeline.
“I cannot find any job so my funding is very low,” he said.
“It’s expensive for rent, expensive for heating, expensive for hot water and electricity, so this food really helps.”
However, Shantelle and her friends didn’t always have the best relationship with their neighbours.
Emily Cutts, who lives in the area, helped found the G20 Youth Festival, a community-led youth club that started the food project.
“We met some young people in the area around three years ago, causing a bit of mayhem,” she said.
“Everyone shied away from them because they were quite a big group – hoodies, smoking, drinking, quite loud, and doing things maybe that a lot of people didn’t agree with.
“But we went straight forward to this group and engaged with them, because we thought we’re going to look past this behaviour to the person.”
Situated in the Ruchill area, the youth club now boasts a boxing ring, instruments and pool tables. About 80 young people from the area come along every month.
After hiring a local graffiti artist, the teenagers have been able to decorate the space themselves.
“We found out there wasn’t much in the community for them, and they were barred from pretty much everywhere,” Emily explained.
“There weren’t really any activities, or you had to pay money for them and they were expensive.”
She says that in less than two years, the young people in the area went from being “demonised” by their neighbours to getting high fives in the street.
“People hated the young people,” added Emily.
“Someone stopped me on the street and said you shouldn’t be spending council money on supporting these young people, they’re just really bad.
“They have so much to offer, but there are so many barriers.”
The young people can now access the youth club for free, and there has been an increase in donations since the meal deliveries started.
The idea for the food project came about after Shantelle and a friend noticed there was a real need for it on their estate, especially in light of the pandemic.
“We employed a professional chef to teach them how to cook and package good food, and a lot of people in the community volunteered,” explained Emily.
They also linked with a nearby women’s centre and the Maryhill Integration Network to identify those who might need the food.
“That really brought the young people together because they had a purpose,” Emily added.
‘A better future’
“I love getting the food out there, because I know that people are actually feeding themselves and it’s not going to waste,” said Shantelle.
“Now we’re getting more and more donations. People are loving our cooking.”
Shantelle is now on an apprenticeship with G20, and hopes to eventually become a full-time youth worker so she can “help other young people get a better future for themselves”.
The teenager says her life was a “misery” before she got involved with the youth club.
“I think this was the most changeable thing I’ve ever done in my life,” she said.
“A lot of people have come here and changed their lives.”
