Milestone for good neighbour club as it has now helped over 4,000 people

The good neighbour club, set up in 2007 by Newton Mearns man Russell Macmillan, only takes referrals directly from frontline workers to ensure the money is well spent.

The club has struggled to receive enough referrals from within East Renfrewshire, indeed it only received three from the area’s health and social workers in the past six months, so has recently expanded into surrounding local authorities.

This has lead to a 70 per cent increase in operating level to over £170,000+ between April and September. In total the club has now distributed over £1,3m since 2007 to 4,000 people.Russell said: “We operate in a very complex and sometimes bureaucratic system where complying with legislation like General Data Protection Regulations GDPR, can conflict with charity audit regulations.

"When potentially over zealously applied, this can severely restrict the opportunity for a community like East Renfrewshire to struggle to distribute funds to many deserving cases that are not picked up by statutory services.

"One particular GDPR section of regulation is enforced in such a draconian fashion and in conflict with other charity legislation, the net result is that our brilliant frontline staff cannot access our plentiful top up resources."The club is currently distributing annually approximately £270,000+ worth of goods and services, helping almost 1000 individuals per year, and goes into the beginning of its 15th year on the 1st October 21 with over £200,000 cash in bank and looking for referrals from frontline workers.