A number of large and well-known organisations have joined forces to create “Together“, a social movement aiming to bring our communities closer together.
The key events of the social movement are:
4th July – Evening – Light of remembrance
5th July – 5pm – Clap for Carers
5th July – 5.05pm – Neighbourly Chat
6th July onwards – “Talk Together” debate about what divides us, what unites us and what we need to change
The National Lottery Community Fund really recognise the disproportionate impact Covid-19 continues to have on some communities. To that end, they are particularly interested in seeing applications from organisations supporting BAME communities, LGBTQ+ communities and user-led disability groups (DPOs – run and controlled by disabled people themselves). If you are interested in taking part in a one to one funding surgery with Danielle from The National Lottery Community Fund, please contact kate@rainbowservices.org.uk
Furlonteer is a not-for-profit project designed to connect charities and good causes with people who have been furloughed due to the coronavirus outbreak and want to offer their time as a volunteer.
Furloughed + Volunteer = Furlonteer
The concept was thought up by Hamish Shephard, co-founder of Hello Fresh and founder of BrideBook; Rosie Shephard, founder of The Luxury Communications Council (LCC); and Sam Tasker-Grindley, Associate Director at RSM UK.
How It Works
People who have been furloughed, made redundant, are unemployed, or simply want to offer their time can register as a Furlonteer. Applicants will be asked for contact information, area of residence, skills, and the amount of time they are willing to commit for an 8 week period.
Organisations such as “charities and social / environmental enterprises” can register for help and are then matched to suitable Furlonteer(s). The application form asks for basic organisation/project information, as well as details of the type of volunteers you are looking to recruit.
The team at Furlonteer is small, however, so it may be some time before you Furlonteers are matched with suitable organisations.
Blind, Visually Impaired & disabled people struggling in lockdown
Have you noticed people struggling to keep a social distance? Are they able to see? Is their mobility restricted? We all need to keep our eyes open and up our observation skills during lockdown and distancing restrictions. And we are doing a good job.
However, some people are struggling. I happen to be a volunteer trainer of Guide Dog Puppies and I was terribly sad to read that one Guide Dog Owner has said he’s decided not to take Kika, his Guide Dog, out alone any more, thus taking him back to the permanent lockdown which engulfs many Visually Impaired People (VIPs). In recent weeks so many people seem not to have noticed him, haven’t bothered moving and instead brush or bump into him. The pavements are now too busy for VIPs to maintain social distancing. This is one step back for equality and independence.
Also I’ve heard people complain when VIPs with Guide Dogs have seemed to ignore queues. The Guide Dogs are trained to take their VIP in straight lines and they haven’t learnt about queuing. My present 6 month old pup Clarkie is getting a lot of experience of queuing! Perhaps that will be a new skill for future Guide Dogs! But in the meantime, Please, Please, can we, all of us, blessed with sight use it and not discriminate against the VIPs.
‘Be There’ Campaign
Guide Dogs have launched a public awareness campaign to highlight the challenges faced by blind and partially sighted people around the social distancing measures. We have come up with three tips to help the public understand how they can help people with sight loss cope with the challenges of social distancing. We are calling the campaign ‘Be There’ to emphasise that although social distancing is important, we want the public to be there to offer help, if needed. A big thank you to those I spoke to last week who gave feedback on the tips which are;
Keep your distance, but don’t disappear – People with sight loss may find it challenging to social distance, so if you see someone with a guide dog or a long cane then you can help them by making sure you keep two meters away, but that doesn’t mean you can’t also offer your help.
Say hello and offer your help – Simply by letting someone with sight loss know you are nearby; you are giving them the opportunity to ask for any help if they need it. People often feel unsure about their ability to help someone with sight loss, but their request could be a simple as finding out where a shopping queue starts, or if there is a safer place to cross a road.
Describe the scene – We’ve all had to adapt to unusual sights during lockdown – people standing apart in long lines outside of supermarkets for example. But those with sight loss haven’t always witnessed this to the same extent, which can be isolating and confusing. By describing what you can see to someone with sight loss, you can help them to understand the environment and navigate accordingly.
VST is pleased to now offer blended and online training for both new and existing accredited and non-accredited courses.
New non-accredited courses are 2 hours long, just £25, and are delivered by experts in their fields and deal not only with the main topic, but also how these topics are being affected by the current health crisis.
Our existing accredited courses have been reorganised so they can be delivered live by /expert trainers over a number of sessions.
We are starting with a focused number of courses which will grow in time,
The British Heart Foundation is launching a free postal donation service in a bid to reduce the number of people visiting its 750 shops when they begin to reopen over the next few weeks.
The charity said smaller items, including books, clothes and vintage toys, donated to the charity retailer through its new post-and-donate service would be sold on the charity’s eBay store online or in one of its shops.
The service aims to help shops fill volunteer gaps and allow potential volunteers an easy way to express an interest in contributing to the work that charity shops do in their communities and for their parent charities.
Retailers with vacancies will be able to ‘interrogate’ the database and identify potential volunteers according to their location and specific charity interest.
Cancer Research UK has cancelled all Race for Life events this year, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The charity had hoped to postpone its 380 events until the autumn, but with uncertainty as to when mass participation events might be allowed, it has decided this is no longer possible.
Instead it has launched launched Race for Life at Home and is encouraging people to share their challenges and activities on social media using the hashtag #RaceForLifeAtHome. Read the full Civil Society article here.
Last night I delivered a presentation to Basildon Borough Council detailing how vital the voluntary sector has been in responding to the challenges and required support which have surfaced since the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is increasingly important that other bodies acknowledge the extremely valuable work we all do in supporting and developing our communities and how we are able to connect and implement positive changes so swiftly. It was a great opportunity to represent our sector and also draw attention to come of the challenges we face in the future. It’s extremely important to be represented and hopefully you can see that at BBW CVS we are doing so in a motivational and proactive way.
I hope you recognise that our service is adapting rapidly and all voluntary organisations, charities and CICs are at the centre of those changes.
