John Storer House makes most of mobile phone aid
Neighbourly UK provides free phones for JSH clients
FREE mobile phones distributed to John Storer House have revolutionised their response to coronavirus, connecting the elderly and vulnerable that they work with to friends and family.
Gary is a regular at John Storer’s community centre, which, before the nationwide lockdown in response to coronavirus ran activities for the elderly including a lunch club (attended by over 75 people a week), transport service and a therapeutic allotment. It was for Gary, and many others, a social hub.
As with many community groups and local charities, coronavirus significantly impacted John Storer’s services. They sadly had to close the doors of their centre but quickly adapted and joined a local partnership to form Charnwood Community Action.
Through this partnership they have been operating a befriending service to connect volunteers with the elderly community that can no longer access the centre.
Charnwood Community Action recently received a donation of mobile phones from giffgaff and Doro via Neighbourly UK which has allowed this service to take off and support hundreds of isolated people in the community every week.
Neighbourly UK are distributing the Doro handsets with three months of giffgaff calls, texts and data.
Gary was on the befriending scheme, but his phone was so outdated that the volunteer couldn’t reach him, and it was hard for him to maintain contact with his family and friends. He was given a free mobile phone with three months of calls, texts and data, which has made the biggest difference to his daily routine. He now speaks with a volunteer weekly and can stay connected with his family, friends and the outside world.
Candi Barnes, Wellbeing and Transport lead said: “As part of this new befriending service, we have 30 volunteers and staff connecting with 180 people a week. They chat to them about their week and provide much needed support during this time of increased isolation. We recognised that our volunteers were making 100 phone calls a week to our service users, which was extremely expensive.
“The donation of these mobile phones has cut these costs significantly and we are delighted that this service can continue, and we can make these phone calls for free.”