Council team steps up to help vulnerable
WHITWORTH Town Council has launched a volunteering scheme to help support vulnerable residents during the coronavirus lockdown.
36 local residents have already volunteered to help deliver food and medical supplies to neighbours, as well as providing companionship over the phone to those who are isolated.
The council is now keen to spread word of the programme and inform anyone in need of help in the area of how to request assistance from volunteers.
Town clerk Melanie Hearn said: “The volunteer tasks are mainly shopping for essential items, collecting prescriptions, and also phone calls to check in and check that people are coping, just having a friendly chat.
“We’ve also combined forces with the soup kitchen in Rochdale and we’ve managed to deliver some food parcels to people who are isolated and struggling to get access to food.
“It’s been really good seeing people come together, and we’ve had a really good response to our volunteers.”
Those who have signed up as volunteers so far include self employed people currently unable to work, and retirees who don’t fall into any of the categories of people who are most vulnerable to coronavirus.
The council notifies the group of volunteers through a WhatsApp group chat when a call for help comes in and so far the team has been able to respond quickly.
Volunteers are already helping around 40 households through the scheme, and the council is now keen to reach out to people including the elderly and those with underlying health conditions, who could need support now or in the near future.
Ms Hearn said: “At first we struggled to get in contact with the people who really need us because they’re not on Facebook, possibly not on the internet, so we’re trying to make sure that the people who need to know find out about us.
“Our priority is people with serious health conditions and people who don’t have family close by. We’re also trying to put things in place in case people lose their support network, for example if their family members get ill and have to start isolating.”
Anyone interested in signing up as a volunteer or availing of this service can email info@ whitworth.gov.uk, or call the council on 01706 852018 (phones are monitored from 9am-2:30pm, but an answering machine is available outside these hours).