Charity providing vital link for isolated or vulnerable people
COMMUNITY TRANSPORT Calderdale have set-up a shopping service for isolated and vulnerable people during the coronavirus crisis.
The charity usually provides community car services, a home from hospital service and transport to social events for people who might struggle to get out and about.
But they are now operating a shopping service where they go to the supermarket for vulnerable or isolated people and drop off the items to their door
Chris Hancox, from the service, said: “It’s essentially taking orders for food, going to the supermarket,
What this has done is bring the community together
collecting it, and dropping it off in a safe way.
“Our unique selling point if you like is that we’re able to take card payments over the phone.
“There are a lot of other informal groups that have cropped up, who are all fantastic, and show an incredible spirit in the community.
“We started out servicing our thousand-odd vulnerable clients on our database, and we’ve now got spare volunteer capacity so we want to get out there and help people.”
Chris says several people have written thank you notes to the service for their help.
There are about 40 volunteers helping the service, which
Chris says has been getting busier since it started.
“We’re working closely with other groups, like the Halifax Society for the Blind, because one of the problems, and it’s going to be increasingly so, is that people can’t get access to cash.
“If you have sight impairment and you don’t have family nearby, who are you going to hand your card to and say ‘take £100 out of my bank account for me’?
“Out of all bad things often come good and what this has done is bring the community together.
“It’s created these pop-up groups that are supporting people, it’s made people far more aware of the people around them and whether they might be in need of support.
“It’s brought communities together, even though it’s put them apart physically.
“A key part of it is the internet and social media. If we hadn’t had that, the ability to organise and respond to what’s happened would have been massively curtailed.
“It’s great that people are pulling together, getting out there and providing the help to people in need.”
If you know anyone in need or would like to volunteer for the service, call 0300 0200 215.
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