RAPID RELIEF TEAM KILMARNOCK
Community | Compassion | Support
Gill Sherry
For those who may be unfamiliar with Rapid Relief Team (RRT), it’s a global charitable organisation delivering hope and relief in times of crisis.
Established in 2013 by the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, it now has over 16,500 volunteers worldwide, including 4,000 in the UK. Sixty-two of those are associated with RRT Kilmarnock.
RRT’s support spans across four key areas: emergency and disaster relief, homelessness, youth, and health and disability.
Ross Norman, UK Head of Operations tells me more.
“Typically, we’re associated the most with our support for the emergency services at a time of crisis, providing welfare support for the frontline responders. Basically, we’re standing behind them with a quality hot meal, barista-style coffee, and anything else we can do to ensure they keep facing towards danger, and to help them stay focused on what they’re best at.”
In 2013, RRT was hugely involved with the Clutha helicopter incident in Glasgow, working to support the police at the scene. More recently, it responded to calls for assistance during the King Street fire in Kilmarnock in July 2025, again providing support to the emergency services.
But the charity’s work goes way beyond emergency situations. For example, last year it delivered two-million meals into Gaza through its network of connections, providing relief through its Food Box initiative. This initiative also operates throughout the entirety of the UK, each box providing enough food for a family of four for at least 48 hours.
Building connections to ascertain exactly who needs support is vital. This is where Martin Cook, Local Team Leader for RRT Kilmarnock comes in.
“We’ve worked locally with MPs and councillors with a view to try and find out where the need is and make them aware of the support that’s available. In January, we were in Holyrood with Jenni Minto, Minister for public health and women’s health, to have our voices heard at the top. Hopefully from there we can filter into the real needs on the ground.”
Talks have also been held with three local churches – The Howard Centre, Kay Park and Laigh Kirk.
“They all have a welfare fronting,” says Martin, “so we put food boxes into those places. We also work alongside the council on the Lived Experience Project, working with persons coming out of rehab. We’ll provide refreshments for the ‘recovery walks’ and sometimes for a hand-to-mouth situation.”
There are countless instances which could lead to a request for assistance from RRT. Requests are received from both organisations and individuals via the charity’s website. It could be that someone has been evicted from their home through no fault of their own. Cases like this are referred to the local team for the volunteers to respond to. But their support is varied and far-reaching.
“We provided support for Shortlees Community Council last year at an event for disadvantaged youth,” Martin confirms. “We were adding something that maybe their funding wouldn’t have reached, to provide something that was really needed.”
The team is also scheduled to help out at three litter-picking events, working with local churches to provide coffee, hot food and other refreshments to nourish those people who are willing to dedicate their time to keep Kilmarnock clean.
“I had the privilege of spending some time in the Ayrshire region during the President of the United States’ visit last year,” Ross informs me. “RRT was heavily involved in supporting the Police Scotland effort for that visit.”
Ross’s role enables him to appreciate just how important the volunteers are when it comes to delivering service on the ground.
“The dedication, commitment and passion of the volunteers just to do good and give something back is humbling, it really is. I lived out of Ayrshire for a couple of weeks and saw people who were prepared to sacrifice time and take multiple days out of their day job, just to be there if they were needed. It was quite something to behold. We really appreciate the sacrifice that our volunteers put in daily, weekly, monthly, yearly.”
Both Ross and Martin are able to see things from a volunteer’s point of view. Ross was a volunteer with RRT before taking on his full-time role in December 2024, and Martin volunteers his time over and above his full-time job supplying products to the health care sector. Both are also aware of the increasing demand for RRT’s core range of products.
“Last year across the UK, RRT was asked to attend 700 events. Across those events we served just under 16,000 meals. We also gave out between 12,000 and 15,000 food boxes across the UK in 2025.”
Martin tells me about other local initiatives.
“We have food boxes and baby care kits (for two different age brackets) in different locations in Kilmarnock for needy persons. We’ve also had a request from the Lived Experience Project who are looking for us to support them on International Women’s Day in Cumnock, Stewarton and Kilmarnock. We call ourselves RRT Kilmarnock, but we’re very much engaged in the whole of Ayrshire.”
RRT is committed to helping those in need and aims to work together with other local charities and organisations to deliver the right help to the right people.
“It’s nice to work with local charities,” Ross confirms. “We don’t want to break down an existing relationship. We want to be there behind them to help them improve and keep going.”
“We want to complement their work,” adds Martin.
Obviously, funding is vital if RRT is to continue its amazing work. The majority of its funding comes from donations from the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church community. However, all donations are gratefully received and there is a link on the website for this purpose.
“We do know we’re having an impact,” Ross confirms, “but we don’t turn up uninvited like a bad penny.
We don’t go chasing blue lights. It’s about putting care and compassion in action when we’re asked to do so.”
He concludes by repeating a comment made by an emergency responder which sums up how important RRT’s presence can be: “There’s nothing better to see when you’re coming off a cold, wet shift than a red tent.”
That red tent offers support in a time of crisis. However, a crisis doesn’t just show itself as a one-off event, it can be an ongoing period of difficulty. If you’re facing such a crisis, you can request assistance via www.rrtglobal.org.
Similarly, if you’d like to find out more about RRT, please visit the website, or get in touch via action.uk@rrtglobal.org.
