Community spirit
thousands of food parcels, topped up gas and electricity metres and organised countless socially-distanced events to bring comfort to those struggling with feelings of loneliness.
A weekly food market has also distributed fresh fruit and vegetables for free, with soup packs and recipes also dished out from the stall on the village green.
Their targeted approach has offered something for everyone, from play and arts and crafts packs for youngsters to a socially distant afternoon tea for the elderly.
The team’s Social Isolation Bingo Bus has also brought neighbours together, creating small support networks within the community where people are collecting prescriptions for elderly residents next door and checking in on those who live alone.
These connections are, Terry said, amongst the greatest achievements of the Covid-19 response.
He added: “During this pandemic, we have witnessed a small transformation in our community, implementing organic local solutions to local problems.
“We’ve been able to combat poverty in ways we hadn’t thought possible before.
“Despite coronavirus exacerbating poverty and its related problems in the area, it’s forced us all to think and work differently.
“For our community, and many others, it has allowed us to feel truly empowered to organise ourselves and identify effective solutions to often historic and complex challenges.”
This year’s Challenge Poverty Week asks people to build awareness and support for solutions to poverty and Terry argues proper investment in grassroots organisations could tackle poverty long after the Covid-19 pandemic passes.
He wants to see the Scottish Government engage directly with the groups that have carried communities through the crisis and provide these volunteers – who have developed the skills needed to tackle poverty in their communities – with the jobs and resources needed to maintain this in the long term.
He said: “The pandemic has shown us what local communities can achieve when they are properly resourced.
“The last few months have seen a wave of unemployment and people’s incomes have plummeted, many will now know what it means to live in poverty for the first time.
“As we rebuild our economy, we must learn from this experience by investing in community organisations and ensuring that local people are given a greater say in the decisions that affect them.
“We’ve seen the power of communities, now let’s invest in them.”