Six Questions from Greencity with PEEK

PEEK stands for Possibilities for Each and Every Kid. This charity really struck a chord with us as when lockdown happened they really upped their game to provide healthy meals for vulnerable kids who were in very real danger of being overlooked. We picked PEEK to be recipients of this month’s charitable donation as they ﬁt in perfectly with our ethos of ensuring that people from every section of society have access to healthy food.

They’ve answered 6 questions for us to explain a little bit more about what they do…

1. Tell us about how it all started.

Peek is celebrating its 20th birthday this year. It all began when a local minister and a group of local parents identified a need for children and young people in Glasgow to benefit from activities and opportunities outside of school. Fast forward 20 years and PEEK delivers a variety of activities that allow children to Play, Create and Thrive. This year we had introduced food as a major element of what we do. Children and young people need to be well sustained in order to flourish. We purchased a food truck and were due to start serving healthy fresh cooked meals at our sessions - then Covid-19 struck.
We spent lockdown delivering meals to over 400 families and cooked more than 30,000 meals. Using fresh, delicious and healthy ingredients is central to what we do.

2. How many people are involved in your organisation?

We have 22 full time members of staff and many sessional workers and volunteers.

3. Tell us about the people you cook for.

We cook for children, young people and families that attend PEEK sessions. These can be the under 5’s at Peek-a-boo café, adults who attend with their children and the young people themselves who come along to play, act, sing with PEEK at sites all over Glasgow.

4. What sort of food will be cooking/donating with the Christmas appeal?

We are providing the most vulnerable families with dry goods and fresh fruit and vegetables to ensure that this Christmas none of the young people and families we work with go hungry. We will also be adding a few extra treats - we all need a boost this Christmas as families continue to isolate and miss loved ones.

5. What steps need to be taken to improve people’s health?

Food poverty affects health. Food poverty also affects the most vulnerable people in society. Alleviating the impact of food poverty supports people in increasing their health and well-being. There is a shortage in availability of good, affordable food in the areas in which we work.We provide access to good home cooked food and we also provide, when allowed of course, training and skill sessions. We hope that PEEK-A-CHEW, our food truck, demonstrates that good food can both be tasty and look a lot like the takeaway food that is familiar to most people. Our stir-frys, kebabs and burgers are as tasty, often much cheaper to make and a lot tastier than many fast-food outlets. By demonstrating good food and by teaching the skills required and inspiring a passion for cooking we hope to tackle food poverty within the communities in which we work.

6. You can pick one chef to come and work with you - who is it and why?

Jack Monroe. She’s lived it and she gets it. She could also take my weekly shopping budget and make it last ten times longer and taste ten times better. More of that please!