Livingston Football Club have been giving away free meals to charities.
With the players all under instructions to stay at home in isolation the club decided to make use of the surplus food at the stadium.
After putting out an appeal to charities, the club told The Courier that 10 organisations came forward and Livingston will be donating 40 meals per day on an individual basis.
The players, coaching and non-playing staff at the club all make a monthly contribution from their wages to cover the costs of meals but with the club shut down due to coronavirus they decided to continue pitching in for meals, but to instead donate the food to local causes.
They started the service on Monday and as they are providing meals for the vulnerable they will be allowed to continue during the government’s new lockdown.
The head chef at Livingston Maureen O’Driscoll, from Westfield, is coming in every day cooking the meals in the kitchen on her own from 9am-2pm whilst everyone else at the club is at home isolating, but she is just happy to help the needy.
She said: “We take great precautions and my health is fine anyway so I am not too worried. I travel in the car myself, cook in the kitchen myself so have very limited contact with anyone right now.
“Davie Martindale will pop up and help if I need it but is has been fine so far. It is probably easier in fact because I don’t have the dishes to do now the players are not here!
“We are just glad that we can do our bit to help people but we know it is a fluid situation, so I will be here doing it for as long as I am allowed to do so.”
The 10 charities who will be benefitting from the free meals are: Harrysmuir Primary School, Boghall Drop In, Polbeth Community Hub, The Ladywell Community Fridge, Winchburgh Helping Hands,
Gartnavel Hospital, Children 1st, Bathgate Partnership, Fauldhouse + Breich Valley and WHO Cares. Maureen continued: “We will be giving out 40 meals to a different charity each day.
“They don’t want anyone in the stadium, so we have a trolley that we take downstairs and the chosen charity for that day comes in and picks it up and takes it to their vehicle.
“It has gone well so far and we are just happy to be able to do our bit and help out the local people.
“Collectively we all just felt that we had to do something for the community.”
