If you have been in the shop on a Wednesday lately, you will have met our volunteer Ahmad, who has been with us since May. Ahmad has been our first participant in our ‘community learning placement’ and he has helped us shape the project.

This is what Ahmad says about the placement:

“I’m Ahmad, I’m Kurdish from Syria. I have been in Glasgow for two years. My first work experience in the UK was at the Locavore shop as a volunteer which gives me a chance to learn how to use the till, stocking up the produce, serving the customers and also improving my English and my confidence. Locavore have great staff, they are very friendly and helpful and many of them are now my friends. When I meet foreign people who have free time I always advise to work as a volunteer because it was very useful for me even in my social life. Now after six months of volunteering I have many friends.”

During his time with us he completed the Community Achievement Award in partnership with Kelvin College. This is an SQA accredited qualification that gives recognition to informal learning. We are very proud of the progress Ahmad has made since he started. We have watched his confidence grow and his English improve from week to week. He has learned a lot through working in the shop and we have learned a lot from him, for example: small cucumbers should be more expensive than big cucumbers, because they are tastier!

Ahmad is completing his placement with us towards the end of the year and we would like to thank him for his hard work and wish him all the very best for the future.

As the placement has been such a positive change for Ahmad, we are looking forward to opening up this opportunity to another person soon.

As well as supporting Ahmad’s community learning placement, we’ve been continuing to send veg boxes to The Space for their cooking classes, and donating cases of fresh fruit and veg to the South East Food Bank.

We would like to say a huge thank you to all our lovely customers for their donations. If you’d like to donate, here’s how:

• pop some coins in the green Good Food Fund tin in our shop, and in a number of venues across Glasgow
• donate weekly, monthly, or as a one off with a bank transfer or standing order to our Good Food Fund account; sort code 80-22-60; account number 12354669
• If you subscribe to our veg box scheme, you can donate through the Open Food Network or add a regular donation to monthly invoice – just email us!

If you’d like more information, or want to partner with us, drop us a line at goodfood@glasgowlocavore.org or call us on 0141 423 8685.