Battersea Coronavirus Angels – Update (04Jun20)
Canon Simon Butler, Vicar of St Mary’s Battersea (and a trustee of KLS), is writing a weekly e-news to the Coronavirus Angels volunteers. As we’re a partner in this new venture we thought we should reproduce it here as it’s full of interesting and relevant stuff!
Hello Everybody,
Welcome to our Newsletter in National Volunteers Week. Thank you for your part in the huge national effort to support some of the most vulnerable people in the neighbourhood during the pandemic. Thanks to David for producing last week’s very full newsletter.
National Volunteer Week: Volunteer Profile
“Working as a team worked well,” says volunteer, Peta Law, laughing, who, with her son Freddie Law, 18, and her daughte
r, Grace Law, 16, volunteered and helped leaflet for the Coronavirus Angels. After leafleting, Freddie Law decided to do more volunteering and has tracked down and delivered schoolbooks to a local Year 5 student as well as shopping for a woman who had recently had surgery. “She’s absolutely lovely and when I came to get her list,” says Freddie, “we joked how times had changed, here was opening up the door and there I was wearing a mask.”
Freddie told his mother, Peta, how this chance to help meant a lot to him, because now, in the years to come, he will look back and know he made a difference, even if it was a small one.” “This volunteering for the Angels isn’t about doing good to be good, “ says his mother, Peta Law, “but about the whole community doing something together.”
Upcoming Availability
Thanks to everyone who has completed the updated availability survey. If you’ve not done so yet, please do so (https://forms.gle/i2kRB17pzWHMKVfe6). This helps us to know who is still available and able to help and it saves us trying to contact you if your situation has changed and you’re no longer able to volunteer. We are committed to keeping what we do going as it currently is well into the summer months. Time will tell what the Angels can become in the longer term.
Coronavirus Angels Next Steps
As the survey results come in, we’re encouraged to see lots of continued enthusiasm for volunteers, including from many returning to a more regular work pattern. At the same time, the leadership of Coronavirus Angels (made up of key staff members from KLS, St Mary’s and Sacred Heart) are also now facing the challenge of balancing more work in keeping our institutions and organisations up and running, alongside all the things that emerging from lockdown are throwing at us.
Every single member of the leadership group is committed to ongoing support for the Angels work (we have lots of professional skills among us), but we think now may be the time for us to seek some new leaders for the day-to-day work we do. We are therefore looking for some people who think they might be able to offer their time and skill in two ways: as telephone & volunteer coordinators, or as part of a small oversight group. If you might be able to help in any of these ways, please email us at [email protected]
Urdu Speaker
We have a person in need with little English. If you speak Urdu, could you email us?
The bakers are aiming for 1000 slices of cake this weekend. Please drop off your baking at St Mary’s Church between 9am and 4pm on Sunday and they will be delivered to various places, including St Thomas’s Hospital, Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, HMP Wandsworth and Meadbank Care Centre.
Little Village
Local charity Little Village is like a foodbank, but for clothes, toys and equipment for babies and children up to the age of 5. They collect quality donations and gift these donations to local families who are dealing with really challenging circumstances – homelessness, unemployment, low wages and domestic violence. Usually families would attend sessions to pick these items, but due to Coronavirus, Little Village are taking emergency bundles to families and are looking for drivers to help with these deliveries and collecting donations.
Little Village need drivers prepared to drive a van once a week or more, and ideally could commit for 4-weeks minimum. A driving session typically takes up to 5 hours.
Most deliveries/collections take place in the mornings, Monday to Friday. Drivers should be comfortable going to collect a Zipvan and need to have stamina!
If you’re interested in helping Little Village as a volunteer driver please complete the form here. Note: this form assumes you’ll use your own car, but they’d prefer people willing to drive a van that they’ll hire.
Keep volunteering!
Contact
If you need a bit of help from the Angels then do call us on 07394 856 557 and email [email protected]