Club is still making sure everyone is included
Group continues to help members over lockdown
A determined group of volunteers has helped keep the lights on and the fridges stocked by distributing more than £20,000 worth of goods to vulnerable people.
Charity Include Me 2 Club, which helps children, young people and adults with additional support needs and disabilities, was forced to stop its usual programmes when lockdown hit.
But the Barrhead non-profit group soon realised its members faced a whole new raft of challenges and quickly stepped in to lend a vital hand.
“All of our clubs and groups had to cease when lockdown started, so we shifted as many as we possibly could online,” chairman and co-founder Paul McIlvenny explained.
“But we soon realised a lot of people were struggling for many different reasons.
“Our charity is designed to break down isolation but we ended up in a situation where that was imposed upon us all.
“Our focus is always on helping those in need and we know that one size doesn’t fit all so we’ve had to have a multi- layered approach to tackling many different issues.
“Unfortunately, people have been struggling to afford food shopping and essential items but we managed to get some Asda vouchers sorted to help with that.
“Connectivity has also been an issue so we’ve been helping to keep the internet running and mobile phones topped up.
“Affording something as vital as electricity and gas has been hard for some people as well so thankfully we’ve been able to help with that as well.”
Include Me 2 Club received funding from the Scottish Government Well-being Fund to help pay for the necessary items they’ve distributed to their 500 members around Barrhead, Paisley and Renfrewshire.
Paul has been delighted with the response of the charity’s volunteers, with more than 20 new recruits stepping up to the plate since Covid-19 struck Scotland.
And he believes the community response has shown the inherent goodness of people in the face of a crisis.
He said: “We’re still getting referrals daily and the situation is changing all the time. We have members who were on zero hour contracts who quickly found themselves without any income.
“Thankfully we are able to provide an immediate response, unlike things like Universal Credit which can take months to organise.
“It’s been heartwarming the levels of thanks and appreciation we’ve received while delivering food, activity packs and shop vouchers.
“We have an amazing team of volunteers and one good thing that has come from this situation is we now have more than 20 new volunteers in our ranks,
“It’s our ten year anniversary next month and the way people have come together tells me we’ll be stronger than ever going forward.”