A COWDENBEATH-based charity which supports a wide-range of people is marking one year of its community hub.

Knights Templar Goodwill Charity of Scotland opened the hub last year to support those in the community.

It hands out thousands of meals, hundreds of care packages, and there is also a clothing bank for people to access free of charge.

They help veterans, the homeless, those with mental health struggles, and those in poverty.

Katie Banks, secretary for the charity, commented on the creation of facility: “There was a lot of work involved and a lot of good volunteers helping us.

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“It’s been a work in progress for that year as we are learning as we go.

“So the hub is a social space; it’s a place where people can come if they have social anxiety, if they are vulnerable, if they are in poverty, they can come and get meals from us.”

The charity even rents the Maxwell Community Centre’s kitchen on Saturdays to make the food, which they then bring to the hub and freeze so people can have healthy and nutritional meals.

Those in need can take the food away or they can stay and eat in the hub as a café environment and just “be with people they have met”.

Katie added: “We also have a clothing bank which is all from donations we have received and if they are short of anything, they can come and browse through that as well, no charge.”

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Some of the people who come down to the community hub are those who are working but in poverty, and some of their users include nurses and police officers.

Around 20 to 30 people will use the hub each time it is open.

However, the charity could not do any of the good work it does without its volunteers. They currently have 31 volunteers, who Katie described as “a fantastic team".

She told the Times: “We have a nurse who has just started with us, she’s retired but she wants to put back into the community as well.

“Our volunteers are valuable to us, we want them to get something out of it as well.”

The group have lots of plans for the future and have plans for an orchard.

Katie added: “There’s so much on the horizon just now.

“We have been a charity for three years and it’s grown so much.”