Community group works on building resilient future
Scottish Government Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell this week thanked charities, community groups and local authorities for their ‘incredible’ work helping people across Scotland access food and other support during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ms Campbell said: ‘From volunteers cooking in their kitchens to grassroots organisations, national charities and our local authority partners, I’m grateful to all of our community food heroes for their incredible work to support people most affected by the pandemic. They had to react quickly, working in new ways to meet vastly increased demand and they tackled the challenge head-on.’
One such group is Kintyre Community Resilience Group (KCRG), an unconstituted group made up of volunteers and representatives of third sector organisations which has helped more than 1,000 people since it formed in March in response to the coronavirus national emergency.
Eric Spence, KCRG’s volunteer coordinator, said: ‘Our aim was simply to inform, advise, support and protect the people of Kintyre during this pandemic. We started by creating a Facebook page containing general advice and information on coronavirus and based entirely on the latest official guidelines from the UK and Scottish governments, as well Argyll and Bute Council and NHS Highland. We also share local stories and information of specific interest and relevance to the people of this area.’
Within a week of posting a short video explaining KCRG’s purpose and asking for help, more than 100 volunteers had registered their details with the group, offering to assist with the likes of shopping and prescription pick-ups.
‘We need to commend each and every one of them as they have been absolutely outstanding in their service to the local community,’ Eric said. ‘At the same time, we had generous offers of support from many local businesses, including local transport companies, who offered us use of their vehicles and drivers, and each of the local distilleries donated hand sanitiser and face masks which we then distributed to local carers, care homes and Scottish Ambulance Service staff among others.’
KCRG liaised with other local support groups and split Kintyre into geographic areas to ensure the entire peninsula was covered. It also divided Campbeltown into eight areas and nominated a coordinator and back-up coordinater for each, so it was able to respond quickly to local needs.
‘I’m grateful to all our community food heroes for their work’
‘In the first weeks we identified a number of individuals who were stuck at home and unable to shop or get other essentials,’ Eric explained. ‘Our volunteers were able to assist these people before the council’s Caring for People helpline was set up and prior to food parcels being provided. We also provided volunteers to support the increased workload of Shopper-Aide and Kintyre Food Bank, and worked with Inspiralba to provide laptops and tablets to the digitally disadvantaged.’
KCRG later teamed up with West of Scotland Resilience Network which provided the group with an emergency radio as well as more than 4,000 bars of hand soap.
A number of local organisations, including community councils, Machrihanish Airbase Community Company and the Rotary Club of Campbeltown, were quick to offer cash donations. KCRG also received a number of individual donations and Billy McFadyen gave 20 per cent of the money from his 60th birthday fundraiser to the group.
Throughout the pandemic, South Kintyre Development Trust provided staff, volunteers, premises, administration and banking facilities to assist KCRG’s operations.
‘We are extremely grateful to all of them for their generosity,’ Eric said.
More recently KCRG set up Kintyre Scrubs to manufacture protective clothing for care staff and, more recently, face masks. In the last few weeks volunteers have been distributing packs of essentials including masks made by Kintyre Scrubs, soap courtesy of Soap
Aid and hand sanitiser donated by Tesco.
‘We aim to continue with this to ensure everybody who needs one has one especially as lockdown begins to ease and masks become mandatory,’ Eric said. ‘Over the last three months KCRG has supported more than 1,000 individuals both directly and indirectly. We have also brought together various local groups who have worked in tandem to support the community.
‘We hope to see this continue as we hopefully near the end of lockdown. We are currently looking at the longer term resilience and well-being of the area and are seeking funds to help deliver a multi-agency approach to this.’
Eric said there are ‘far too many individuals’ to thank but that particular thanks should go to David Paterson for setting up and monitoring Facebook pages and Elise Glendinning for coordinating Kintyre Scrubs.
He added: ‘We should be very proud of our community and the generous spirit of the people who live here.’