‘THIS COULD BE COMMUNITY’S FINEST HOUR’
ARMY OF KIRKLEES VOLUNTEERS DOING THEIR BIT TO HELP VULNERABLE THROUGH CRISIS
“THIS crisis could be our finest hour.”
The wartime analogy is not lost on Paul Jones as he runs a boroughwide community support operation from his kitchen table.
The last few weeks have been exhausting. But as the country struggles under the weight of the Covid19 pandemic Paul sees a brighter future beyond the current storm.
And it’s all down to good, oldfashioned neighbourliness.
People across Kirklees are stepping up to do their bit for the most vulnerable in their communities. In the days before the coronavirus emergency took hold Paul ran a team from the Denby Dale Centre (DDC). Now, like millions of others, he works from home.
Yet the invisible threads that link people together are formed from a sense of community, support and doing the right thing.
That means shopping for people who are unable to venture outside, picking up prescriptions, walking dogs and acting as a “telephone buddy” making a call a day to someone to stave off the effects of loneliness.
Now, perhaps more than ever in recent memory, we all need it.
The newly-named HD8 Coronavirus Group is a partnership of community organisations both established and pop-up spread across rural Kirklees and taking in the Colne, Holme and Dearne valleys.
It offers a cashless food delivery service with orders of £5, £10, £15, £20 and £25 in which payment is made by card or online.
Volunteers carry out the order and deliver to the person’s door.
Paul, 50, said: “People can either ring up and pay over the phone or go on the website to do the same.
“The shopping order is then passed onto a local group.
“We facilitate the payment, which means there is no cash being exchanged on the doorstep to help infection control.
“People using the service are often on their own and do not have a support network or family watching over them.
“Every four days they have to come back. That’s about contact with people. It means they see someone twice a week.
“It’s all about that human contact.” One family in London is placing local food orders for a vulnerable relative living 180 miles away in Kirkburton, Huddersfield.
And whilst the elderly are receiving support - the oldest individual on the group’s books is 97 - it is also focused on others in need, such a 30-year-old blind person.
“We’re catering for every age. It’s reassuring for some people that there is a Plan B,” adds Paul, who says the scheme is to expand to cover prescriptions and pensions.
“We haven’t had so much demand yet because people have been stocking up. I think demand is going to increase in the next few weeks.”
Running for 15 years, the Denby Dale Centre at Springfield Mills works with organisations such as the
Jo Cox Foundation and the Yorkshire Children’s Centre as well as churches, mosques, temples, village associations and community centres.
Now it’s liaising with pop-up mutual aid organisations formed as a direct result of the current crisis, acting as the anchor.
Paul, a father-of-two who lives with wife Angela in Salendine Nook, praised Kirklees Council for “being amazing”. The authority has funded safeguarding checks for 200 volunteers.
He also praised Denby Dale Labour councillors Will Simpson and Graham Turner for allocating part of their ward budget towards the administration of those checks.
“The community and the council could not have done this on their own. To have this co-ordinated approach is vital. There are people that need the support of social services that are not registered. They are now getting that support because the community is becoming more neighbourly.”
The DDC’s existing volunteer car service was funded by the Government via an anti-loneliness fund distributed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
That has evolved into the food delivery service.
Clr Simpson said he and Clr Turner were delighted to help and added: “The way that our community has come together to support one another in response to the crisis we face is incredible and I want to thank everyone who has volunteered and helped someone.
“Clr Turner and I are pleased that we’ve been able to support the community effort by providing the Denby Dale Centre with the funds to employ two extra members of staff to provide further dedicated support for the challenges we will face in the coming weeks.
“It’s very tough for everyone at the minute, but together we’re going to get through it – and I am proud that our community is pulling together.”
Meanwhile telephone buddies take part in “chatterbox”, so that isolated people can have a daily chat.
It means some people that are vulnerable and in isolation so that they don’t leave their home can be a telephone buddy at their own convenience.
Paul, who says he last had a day off on March 7, says he has been impressed and astonished at the public response.
“The various Covid groups are doing amazing stuff. They have come together to help their neighbours and they’ve come from nothing at 100mph to do an incredible amount.
“We are going to get through this. Our neighbourliness can continue after this and our community can stay connected.
“This emergency could be a turning point in history - if we continue to look out for people on their own.
“Let’s hope that care can empower us. Let’s hope it will be a trigger for the community.”