[ad_1]
Sor you haven’t read Proust. Or anything really. And you haven’t learned the piano. But you’ve had the “Covid cut” – and published it on social networks. Similarly, sourdough. But you feel empty, threadbare, unsatisfied, helpless. Mostly helpless.
It could be because you are literally not helping. Lockdown has been all about you and yours, locking yourself in, ducking and protecting yourself. But looking outward, toward helping others, not only helps them, it can also help you. What is known in the business as win-win. A study at Stony Brook University in New York after the 2008 financial crisis found that volunteering had psychological rewards; Most of the people who did it were happier and were able to deal with disappointment and loss.
Rebecca Kennelly, director of volunteering at the Royal Voluntary Service, who is behind the NHS Volunteer Responders scheme, agrees with that. “It is a powerful experience. That feeling of giving in to a common purpose is phenomenal. But also recognition, when you make a” check-in-and-chat “call. [phone support to people at risk of loneliness], or you leave someone’s purchases: knowing that you have made a real difference in a person’s life. “
Sabrina Ellis in Wolverhampton is a check-in-and-chat response in the scheme. “I feel like I’m helping people, without being a frontline staff member of the NHS,” she says. It’s “almost like being in the shadows, supporting those other services.”
Here are some ways to lend a hand.
NHS Voluntary Responders
When the plan was launched on March 25, the target of 250,000 volunteers was quickly passed. Then it doubled, then it tripled. “The response impressed me greatly, but it didn’t surprise me; this country loves the NHS,” says Kennelly.
With 750,000, he stopped recruiting new volunteers, as there were far more than needed for the tasks available (as of last Friday, 50,000 tasks had been completed). However, keep an eye on it as the situation unfolds. “You can open up new roles, or particular areas,” says Kennelly.
Help himself
NHS Responders has also released a self-referral number, which allows anyone on the shield to ask for help. “We should not underestimate the depth of loneliness and isolation that people feel,” says Kennelly. “People may feel that it’s a bit fancy to ask someone to call them. We have thousands of people ready to make registration calls and chat. It’s not fancy, these are unprecedented times.” The number to call is 0808 196 3646.
If you’re lucky, and you’re in Wolverhampton, you could find Ellis. “I have a great passion for supporting anyone who needs it,” she says. I’m pretty sure she’s good at it. I feel better after talking to her and just called to interview her.
Help others to help themselves
Tell people, your older neighbor, maybe, about self-referral. Help them do it. Think of people who may not know it, or be up to date with technology. “Anyone who may need support,” says Ellis. “And we are going to be all of us at some point.”
Make your own registration calls and chat …
… even if you are not part of the official army. You’re already doing it, obviously, for parents and grandparents. You did Grandpa an unscheduled hearing inspection. “IT’S FACETIME, GREAT, DON’T PUT THE PHONE IN YOUR EAR.” Also, maybe clean them up …
“Be a good neighbor, a good friend, a good relative,” says Kennelly. “Those phone calls are magic moments on someone’s day.”
And think beyond your immediate family and friends, towards people who may not be receiving daily checkups. Great-aunt Doris, perhaps.
Participate with your local Covid-19 mutual aid group
Just before Britain was locked up, a group of friends in Lewisham, south London, began to talk about what social isolation would mean in practice for vulnerable members of the community. They discussed “applying mutual aid principles to the situation,” says Kevin Smith, who has been involved from the start. “Horizontal principles of solidarity, not a model of charity from one group of society that helps another”.
The group put brochures through the doors, asking who needed help and who could help, and started a Facebook page. Then people across the country became interested and involved. A website was launched.
There are now more than 3,500 groups in the country. Smith says the number of people involved is in the millions. People helping others with shopping, picking up a recipe, walking the dog, advising on tenant rights, whatever. She tells me how the charity Age UK contacted her group about a strawberry smoothie. A woman who was dying wanted one. Of course, they gave him one, a very elegant one, delivered. Oh my God.
“There is a foreground narrative that deals with self-interest in times of crisis,” says Smith. “The flip side is that times of crisis also provoke these feelings of collective attention among us, and that our well-being is also fundamentally connected to the community.”
Volunteer at a food bank
The Trussell Trust supports a national network of more than 1,200 food banks. There are also many freelancers. Trussell Trust director of policy and research Gary Lemon says the coronavirus has presented new challenges “from the health crisis and the economic crisis and the increased demand for food banks that comes from that.”
Many older volunteers have had to stay home. “We had a very difficult couple of weeks with many volunteers leaving the system,” he says.
The great response moved him, but there are still opportunities; you can register on the website. Yes, there are risks, as there are for any key worker, but “we do everything possible to minimize them, with the pieces of PPE where we can get it and the physical distance.” If you are not high risk and want to help, the Trussell Trust volunteer page is the best place to start.
They have had to adjust, such as moving to home delivery, which is a shame, as it means that the food bank is not currently a place for a non-judgmental chat and a cup of tea. “But the first thing is the health and safety of the volunteers and the people who need their services,” says Lemon.
Donate food
A plea from Lemon: “Obviously, we are very grateful for any non-perishable food we receive. But if you want to help, find out what kind of food your local food bank needs, find out what they are missing, fill in those holes.”
They try to make packages as nutritionally balanced as possible. The lemon mentions juice cartons, cans of meat and fish, and always UHT milk. But it will vary from place to place, so find out first. They also take toiletries and hygiene products, such as toothpaste and sanitary pads. Many supermarkets have collection points where you can drop things off. Online supermarkets have ways to donate at checkout.
Can you sew
Annabel Maguire can. She’s a stage designer, but there’s not much need for that right now. She was not busy when, a few weeks ago, a doctor from her local Mutual Aid WhatsApp group who was unable to get peels anywhere asked her if anyone could do something.
Maguire and three other people in the group, a pattern cutter in the fashion industry, a charity worker, another with a textile store, rushed quickly. “I think I had felt… not useless, but what could I do with my time now? Can I help in any way? she says. “And he actually had some skills that could help, and we quickly realized that between us we had the perfect skills to help.”
They discovered how a production line could be done, but in different non-contact spaces. And so the Scrub Hub was born.
When it comes to speaking, there are 128 centers across the UK with 1,766 volunteers who have delivered almost 3,500 scrubs. On the website, there is a directory of all centers. New ones are still being created; involve. You need to know what you are doing, have experience in sewing clothes, know what “overlock” is. Maguire and his team were not happy when the Sun described them as a group of fans. They are proud of their bushes.
Can’t you sew?
What can you do? Maguire and Ellis found meaning, purpose, and structure when using their abilities. “It sounds cliche, but I asked how it could help people,” says Ellis. “I look for where is the gap that people are trying to fill.”
What gaps could you fill? Which skills do you have? There are organizations like Volunteering Matters and Do It that can connect you to charities. Reach Volunteering unites people with specialized professional skills. On my local Nextdoor page in Brent (which has a high death rate), an overwhelmed carpenter is looking for help making coffins. That could be too bleak.
Or just give them your money
You may not have useful skills. Or do you still have a real job, no time, but possibly with a little extra change? Don’t forget about charities. They are suffering a lot, due to event cancellations and store closings. They may not want their “vintage” clothes right now, or their CDs, but they desperately need funds.
Obviously, there are too many charities to list. You may know who you want to donate to, but don’t forget the new homeless people, the people who have lost their jobs, the hotel industry, the arts. One way to make sure you’re on the front line is by donating to the National Emergencies Trust, which coordinates the UK coronavirus appeal.
Do something, though. Forget about Proust; you will never read it. The sourdough is a mess; nobody likes Get up, look, help others. Help himself. Help.
[ad_2]
