A soup-er act of kindness from a Ukrainian refugee making a new life in Dumfriesshire has been lapped up by the community in Annan.
On Wednesday, hundreds of people were bowled over when they were handed free tomato soup which was made to Inna’s Dorofeieva popular recipe, marking World Kindness Day.
Inna, who fled Kiev in 2022 with her teenage son to escape the Russian invasion, settled in Dumfries and has a job she loves as a cook at Kate’s Kitchen on Annan High Street.
She said that she has been welcomed with open arms by Annan residents and enjoys giving back at the charity which helps feed those in need each week.
But she really stepped up to the plate when she asked The Cumberland Building Society to help her return the kindness shown to her.
A team, based at its branch on Annan’s High Street, helped Inna hand out over 300 cups of soup – in the hope recipients would pay it forward and pass on the kindness to others – while volunteers delivered a further 100 to delighted workers at businesses, the police station, and in the town hall.
The Cumberland also highlighted its Kinder Kind of Kitchen initiative – run in partnership with FareShare Glasgow and the West of Scotland – which supports community projects to tackle food poverty.
Earlier this year, it produced The Kinder Cookbook which features recipes from the food groups it has funded, including Kate’s Kitchen.
And Inna’s popular tomato soup recipe was among them.
Delighted to share her soup and the recipe – as recipe cards and copies of The Kinder Cookbook were handed out too – as a thank you gesture, she said: “Tomato soup is not a traditional soup in Ukraine – we eat borscht instead – but, here, people love it.
“Every time I make it, it’s a little bit different depending on what people tell me. I try to improve it.”
She added: “The people here are like my family. I need to work to support my son. I like to work and they gave me that chance at Kate’s Kitchen.
“Will I ever go back to Ukraine? I don’t know. I don’t know when the war will stop.”
Meanwhile, Inna’s soup has delighted tastebuds and set tongues wagging in the town.
Chloe Sheppard, a payroll and accounts administrator, tasted the soup when a delivery arrived at accountant Saint & Co on the High Street.
She enthused: “We’ve never had someone deliver soup to us before. It should be World Kindness Day every day. Everybody needs a bit of help and we should all be kinder to each other.”
Annan resident, Malcolm McEwen said: “It’s as good a tomato soup as I’ve had. The world could be a kinder place and the Cumberland are doing a great job supporting community food initiatives. Too many people are struggling.”
Elaine Hastie, also of Annan, praised the society’s work on food poverty, adding: “I’ve used the Cumberland for years. It’s so easy to come in and access your money. A lot of banks have closed, which makes it harder.”
Ryan McCubbin, the Cumberland’s Cluster Manager for Scotland, said: “Being able to give something back to the community means so much to us.
“It was exciting to see people’s reactions when they came into the branch. Our customers are really interested in what we’re doing.”
The Kinder Cookbook – with Inna’s recipe – can be downloaded from: https://www.cumberland.co.uk/kinderkitchens.