From our free hot meals service supporting children during the school holidays, to our support for Renfrewshire foodbank, our Tackling Poverty Fund is focused on projects that will make a difference for families. Plus, there’s a look at the Fire Engine Rally in Johnstone and the forthcoming community council elections next month.

Friday, August 8 Supporting families Renfrewshire children have been served up over 22,000 free hot meals during the school holidays since our pioneering free meal scheme began.

The free meals scheme operates across Renfrewshire, including Renfrew, Johnstone, Linwood and Paisley, providing a healthy lunch to children who meet the criteria.

As we work hard to tackle poverty across Renfrewshire and support local families who need that bit extra, the scheme is really helping to make a difference where it is needed.

But we’ve also put £1million into the pockets of local families in support that they didn’t know they were entitled to thanks to our neighbourhood-based programmes in Linwood and Ferguslie. And boosting these existing programmes will be another three set up in Gallowhill, Johnstone and Foxbar later this year from investment from the council’s Tackling Poverty Fund.

Giving our children a better start in life by investing in early years intervention and on-the-ground support for their families is essential and the core teams are providing this service right in the heart of the community.

Sunday, August 16 Fire Engine Rally Johnstone was the place to be as crowds turned out to watch the Fire Engine Rally.

Children and adults alike enjoyed getting up close to the vintage emergency vehicles and I commend the Scottish Fire and Rescue Heritage Trust for their dedication in keeping these machines alive and well.

It is the second time the annual event has taken place in Johnstone and it is great to see so many families enjoy an afternoon of fun at Houstoun Square.

But on top of the fun is a serious message of fire safety and I thank local firefighters for taking the time to demonstrate the impact fire can have on the home and simple steps we can all take to prevent it.

Thursday, August 20 Tackling poverty Renfrewshire foodbank is unfortunately the third busiest in Scotland. With food poverty continuing to rise across the country and more families being forced to make hard decisions, I’m determined to make a change here in Renfrewshire.

Poverty is harming families and pushing them to the brink. Our support for Renfrewshire Foodbank is part of a package of measures to help families in crisis, along with the free meals we provide for children who are entitled during school holidays and our new fund to help parents with the cost of the school day.

I am proud that our £6m poverty fund is already delivering on-the-ground support as we strive to lift families out of hardship with emergency responses while also investing in preventing people falling into poverty.

For more information about the foodbank, visit www.renfrewshire.foodbank.org or call 0141 889 7999.

Tuesday, August 25 Community Council elections Elections to our local community councils take place this September and it’s the perfect time for you to find out more about what your local community council does.

Community councils are there to raise concerns on behalf of local people. They are the first statutory level of democracy in our country and an important voice for their area.

I always value the interaction we have with our community councils. It’s great that people are civic-minded enough to stand up and represent their area.

We all want the best for Renfrewshire and the more people we have contributing their ideas and their efforts, the more likely we are to achieve our goals.

We have 23 active community councils in Renfrewshire including Johnstone, Elderslie, Gallowhill and Renfrew and they will all be holding elections from 1-30 September.

If you’re aged 16 or over, live in the community council area and registered to vote, then you can stand for election.

We have more information about the elections on the council website at [www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/ccelections]www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/ccelections Check out the Leader’s Latest at www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/councilleader or follow #Leaderlatest on Twitter.