Coronavirus update from our Camden Coordinator
Our “request and volunteer” initiative is well underway and we’d like to thank everyone who has completed the form online, popped it into Jeremy or called me, Louise, directly.
We have received some lovely offers of help, such as pet care and gardening, and some quite original ones, such as delivering pieces of children’s art to doorsteps, writing tuition and leisure courses.
Our aim is to put a requester in touch with a specific volunteer so that the requester has a regular “buddy” that they know they can call on. In each case so far, I have contacted both parties to check that the arrangement could work, and advised each one of the details of the other.
It is a challenging learning situation for all of us, shall we say, and we are still working out practicalities such as paying for goods when actual cash is getting low. We have also had to be firm with one or two requesters, as our volunteers can’t spend too much time on individual complicated requests beyond our basic offers, which are:
- Shop and deliver provisions, using a list
- Collect prescriptions from a local pharmacy
- Give a cheery phone call every so often
- Taking recycling from the doorstep to the kerb and back later
We have also linked up with 3SG (an independent membership network supporting the charity, social enterprise, faith and voluntary sector in BANES), where volunteers are resident in our own patch.
At the moment we have only a small number of requests although that is growing by the day. But are we reaching the people who really need our help?
We know that many of our leaflets are already in the recycling bin, some people in apartments never saw them, and others aren’t online to receive the CRA newsletter. So if you could do with some practical help yourself or would just like to talk to someone on the phone every so often, please don’t be shy – there are many lovely people out there just waiting to be useful. And please spread the word to your local contacts (by phone, email, sms etc) so that we can all help each other.
Louise