EDVA E-Bulletin Covid-19
We are here to Help!
East Dunbartonshire’s Third Sector Interface
The OPAL Advice Helpline has now been extended so referrals can be made to a new shopping and prescription service which is coordinated in partnership with OPAL and EDVA. This voluntary shopping scheme will help those most vulnerable in the community, particularly those self-isolating to get vital deliveries of food and prescribed medication. The enhanced line has been in operation for several weeks now and is receiving between 30-35 calls per day on weekdays. Our Core staff are continuing to work on a rota system across the 7 days to route OPAL caller referrals to the local volunteer group
OPAL Information Line number is 0141 438 2347
The extended hours the line will be opened is 9am to 5pm—seven days per week
How the Shopping Service Works:
The OPAL Adviser will take your name, address, telephone number and a note of your specific needs and these will be passed to the EDVA Staff Core Team member and then the details passed to the Volunteer Co-ordinator in your local team. The local area teams working in partnership with EDVA and OPAL are Bearsden & Milngavie Response Team, G66 Covid Response Team, Milton of Campsie Community Group, G64 Covid Response Team and Twechar Healthy Living Centre. The Volunteer Co-ordinator will contact you directly and take down your shopping list, or the details of where your prescription is to be collected. A Volunteer will go and buy what they can from your list – supermarkets are still not fully stocked and there are still some shortages of particular products. They will bring the shopping to your door, knock or ring the doorbell, and then walk away. It should be noted that they cannot help you to bring your shopping into the house. Payment: You will be contacted about payment after your shopping has been delivered. We aim to be as flexible as possible about payment, we can take card payments over the phone, bank transfers, or PayPal. Cash is the option of last resort, as we do not want to expose our Volunteers to the risk of handling money, which can be a disease vector, or the risk that they might be accused of impropriety. There has been a remarkable community response to the COVID-19 emergency and the amazing teams of volunteers working with us throughout East Dunbartonshire are delivering a first class service and over the past weeks until week beginning the 20th April we have supported over 300 people with shopping and prescription collections.
THANK YOU ALL
Our OPAL Partners:
Isolation Assistance
Help if you are Shielding
If you, or anybody in your household, have received a letter from the Chief Medical Officer asking you to shield yourself for 12 weeks, you need to make yourself known to the Local Authority, who will make arrangements to deliver food parcels if necessary and any other support you and your family require. Your pharmacy should also start to deliver your prescriptions to your home.
There is a mobile phone number in the letter for the SMS Shielding Service: if you text your CHI number to this service, they will keep you up-to-date with relevant information by text message. You can contact East Dunbartonshire Council’s Shielding Helpline on 0141 777 3345, and they will be able to tell you what support is being put in place for you. The Scottish Government has also updated its information about Shielding support and contacts. If you are shielding, you can also use the Shopping Service to supplement your food parcels.
If you are worried about someone else’s alcohol or drug use and live in East Dunbartonshire then please get in touch.
I am currently facilitating two family support groups at alternative times :-
Every Thursday at 10am till 12.00pm & 6.30pm till 8pm the following week
I also have three drop ins on :-
Tuesdays at 1.30pm till 3.30pm & Wednesday at 10am till 12.00pm and 1.30pm till 3.30pm
I will also accommodate 1 to 1’s for anyone who can’t make these times for any reason via Zoom, WhatsApp or even just on the Phone. You will need to get in touch with me before you can join in the family support groups or drop ins
Support for Families about Coronavirus https://www.sfad.org.uk/support-services/support-for-families-about-coronavirus
Frequently asked questions from families about Coronavirus https://www.sfad.org.uk/faqs-from-families-about-coronavirus
Contact our helpline 0800 10 10 11
EDVA NEWS
We have worked with the community to put together this E-Bulletin with useful information and stories of our journey and the journey of our community during this lockdown period. We remain fully functional working from home and all of our team are available to provide support, advice and guidance. Thank you to those of you that completed our recent survey, we will be in touch directly to look at your priority areas.
We would also like to introduce our newest member of the team, Luke Emerton, this is a very strange start to a new job, however we are extremely lucky to have Luke’s experience join our team at this time. Welcome to Team EDVA Luke.
A little introduction from Luke...
I am really excited to be joining the team at EDVA. For the last 8 years I have been working as part of the Community Development Team at Bethany Christian Trust; initially as a Community Development Worker and then managing the Team in the East of Scotland. Bethany works across Scotland tackling both the causes and consequences of homelessness. The Community Development Work focused on prevention; preventing repeat homelessness and looking to prevent people becoming homeless in the first place. I was involved in facilitating and coordinating a range of Community Development activities including employability and training, recovery work, family work and befriending. During the last three years we worked with four communities in Dundee and Edinburgh to develop Asset Based Community Development work in each area with the aim of building stronger communities. We supported local community groups to build on the good things which were happening in each area and to come up with community led solutions to tackling some of the challenges which each area faced, including; isolation, low income and inequalities. It was a real privilege to be able see these projects develop, including community cinema, community lunches, local makers groups etc. As well as Community Development I have an interest in the environment and sustainable development; I am Chair of Fintry Development Trust which looks to create a zero-carbon community in the village of Fintry.
I am now very much looking forward to being able to support the 3rd sector in East Dunbartonshire. My role as Community Builder Development Officer is to support the development of new and existing voluntary sec-tor groups in the area. I strongly believe in the power of communities and that local people should be at the heart of decision making with the opportunity to be able to shape the services within the community.
I am very much looking forward to being able to meet and to visit EDVA members and voluntary groups in due course; soon, I hope! In the meantime, please do get in touch if you would like to discuss how we can support voluntary sector groups in East Dunbartonshire
To contact Luke: Email luke.emerton@edva.org or Telephone 0141 578 6680
OUR SURVEY REVEALS IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE THIRD SECTOR AND OUR COMMUNITY
Our recent EDVA survey has revealed the difficulties and impact the current COVID-19 emergency is hav-ing on them. A total of 42 services were canvassed and asked how COVID-19 was impacting on their day-to-day work and services e.g. staffing, funding, finances, capacity. 8 or 19% of these services respond-ed they were finding it “extremely difficult” in dealing with the pandemic emergency; 14 or 33% were finding it “very difficult”; and a further 16 or 38% were finding it “somewhat difficult” (see chart below).
In total 90% of services surveyed were encountering difficulties as a result of the emergency on their day-to-day operations.
EDVA can actively assist and support services in dealing with the pandemic by signposting and assisting with the emergency funding that is available and providing advice on a range of other issues including em-ployment, governance and business continuity.
How is COVID-19pacting on your day-to-day work and services? e.g. staffing, funding, finances, capacity?
What additional assistance do you require to help with the impact of COVID-19?
Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the survey.
We will be proactively contacting organisations who requested support and left their contact information.
If you do require support/advice please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our Team at info@edva.org.
Volunteering in East Dunbartonshire
We have been overwhelmed by the response of our community. Offers have been flooding in to volunteer and help others at this time. In the early days of COVID-19 there were already few local response teams formed throughout East Dunbartonshire and we have worked with them, providing volunteers to deliver shopping, collect prescriptions or just to provide a friendly phone call to those who are vulnerable, social isolating or shielding. As well as these community teams we have supported the local Foodbank, Strathkelvin Credit Union, Carer’s Link, Women’s Aid, Weekday Wow Factor and the national charity Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland with volunteers. And we are continuing to work with others on a daily basis to assist them with volunteer recruitment. The Scottish Government appealed for volunteers and 700 local residents signed up to volunteer with Ready Scotland (this is no surprise to us). We have now received these details and have made contact with everyone of them to establish what activity they would be willing to do. While we cannot promise that we will be able to place them all in a volunteer opportunity we will do our best to provide them with their choice of opportunity. If you need volunteers please get in touch
Special thanks to Authentic8 ID Solutions for the donation of our volunteer ID cards.
Big thank you to TR Bonnyman Son & Co for the donation of hand sanitiser to keep our volunteers safe!!
Twechar
Kirkintilloch & Lenzie
Bishopbriggs
Bearsden & Milngavie
East Dunbartonshire Foodbank
It’s a challenging time for all of us and we are doing all that we can to maintain the provision of emergency food parcels for anyone in crisis. All our food bank centres are open as normal except for Lennoxtown, which unfortunately has temporarily closed. However, provision is still available from our Kirkintilloch centre along with a delivery service if necessary.
We are particularly concerned about protecting the health and well-being of the community along with our staff and volunteers. We have, therefore, put measures in place to reduce the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19). At the same time, we are passionate that those who have the least resources to cope with this crisis must not be forgotten and we are doing all that we can to maintain and extend food provision.
The latest government advice explains food banks can legally continue operating and buildings that host food banks, can continue to open for those sessions, provided we follow social distancing rules, because this work qualifies those involved as key workers ‘caring for the vulnerable’. All our packs are pre-made so that food parcel collection is very straightforward, clients are safely welcomed at the door and via our one-way system quickly and efficiently collect their parcel and go out another door.
We’ve also been grateful for the co-operation of referral agencies and how they have adapted to the challenges. The OPAL line has provided a lot of support for those in the area and it’s been good partnering with them to provide delivery of food parcels.
We have been overwhelmed by the generosity and support of companies, schools, individuals, and community groups response to the crisis. We have had lots of donations of money, food and time. This will help us sustain the work of the food bank over the coming months and has enabled us to purchase food that we have been short of as well as extend our service to meet the increased demand. Over the past few months, in partnership with Fareshare, we have been receiving weekly donations of fresh fruit and vegetables. It is great to be able to offer these alongside the non-perishable food parcels and they have been well received by our clients.
Finally, we could not sustain our service if we did not have the continued support and co-operation of so many organisations and volunteers. Thank you for all that you do to help sustain our operations.
Further details of opening times and shortages can be found on our website https://eastdunbartonshire.foodbank.org.uk/ or via Facebook. Please also contact Ann Carson on 07425 134131
School Hub Update
When lockdown was announced East Dunbartonshire Council set up all their schools into Learning Hubs in the different areas. This allowed several schools to join together and create a base with an environment which was safe, accessible, enjoyable and where some degree of learning could continue for children whose parents were keyworkers. The Lenzie Hub consists of Lairdsland, Holy Family, Millersneuk and Lenzie Meadow Primaries and meets in the school at Lenzie Meadow. The Hub also consists of the Early Years Centres at Holy Family and Lenzie Meadow. On the first Monday of lockdown the management teams of all four schools and Early Years Centres met together and created bases, resources, programmes, risk assessments, health and safety checklists as well as identifying who the children of keyworkers were and also any vulnerable children who may need this service.
By the Tuesday the Hub was ready to go and children were welcomed in. Volunteers had willingly come forward from each of the different schools and rotas were setup for teachers and support staff to come in to be there for the children from 8am-6pm every day. In the Early Years Centres this included all staff volunteering to work with the children.
For the children this was unsettling as they were now with children who weren't necessarily their classmates and other schools were in the building too. By seeing their own staff teams they settled really quickly and a new routine was established. By the end of the second week East Dunbartonshire Leisure joined the Hub. A great addition as they then took over the 3pm-6pm slot in the primary schools and provided activities and games for the children with an excellent team who the children then knew by the time the Easter holidays arrived.
Because the children arrive and leave at different times during the day and on different days. it has been important that the children are only there when it is absolutely necessary so numbers are kept low to ensure social distancing and all the other measures are in place. This means that every day there has been a different mixture of children and also different staff teams. All have adapted so well.
During the day activities are planned which encourage children to stay apart. EDLC have adopted a code word so that the children know if someone says it then they are too close. An excellent way of trying to help the children remember the two metre rule. Children have had the run of the school. They have been able to use the gym, the computers, climb trees and there are no fights about who is using the pitch because they have it all to themselves. In the Early Years Centre the children have been following their normal routines but all with social distancing measures in place.
During the Easter holidays school staff except the Senior Leadership stepped back and EDLCT took over for the two weeks. They have been in two teams working shifts from 8am-1pm and 1pm-6pm providing activities all day long. Staff from Culture and Leisure also joined the team and provided the children with stories and related resources.
Although no one wants to be in this situation and are looking forward to the day normality returns, there have been huge positives from this time. The four schools and EYCs working together has created an opportunity which has enabled head teachers to collaborate in a way never before possible. Schools have seen what can be possible in a short space of time when we all work together. The relationships between East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Libraries has been strengthened and also the community of Lenzie has shown how supportive and encouraging it is. Moving forward the strengthening of these relationships can only be beneficial for our children, our schools and our community.
By Sheona Allen, Headteacher, Lenzie Meadow Primary School
Children & Young People
While the schools have been off teachers have been busy providing parents and carers with home-schooling materials and Education Scotland also has lots of really helpful information on Parent Zone. There is however a whole wealth of activities for all ages available online.
National Museums of Scotland- View some of the collection on-line and there are lots of interactive games & films which can be accessed through Museum at Home
Engineers at Dyson have created 44 science and engineering activities to do at home (PDF Download)
Audible have set up a free children’s collection of audio books which will be accessible while schools remain closed
BBC Bitesize has resources for both primary and secondary education
The Woodland Trust has a blog which is regularly updated with both indoor and outdoor activities for children and families
Staying on the nature theme there are lots of activity sheets which can be downloaded at Wildlife Watch
My World Kitchen on BBC i-player has over 30 simple recipes for young children
Orchard Toys have free colouring and activity sheets for younger children which can be downloaded. While Crayola also have free colouring sheets for all ages.
TTS have free downloadable activity booklets for primary and early years
Homestart have games and activities and also lots of helpful information and advice for families during covid-19
Remember that some families still have limited or no internet access, so some colouring and activity sheets might be very welcome.
This is obviously a challenging time for everyone so let’s also be kind to each other and ourselves and try not to put too much pressure on ourselves and our children. Support in Mind has some particularly good resources to help at this time.
Befriending …... A Lifeline
Andrew Frizzell our Community Link Worker covering Bishopbriggs is in regular contact with all of the clients and volunteers including anyone who has been awaiting a match and is now receiving a telephone call from a volunteer.
Andrew has been encouraged by the resilience of older people in the present who are missing social contact with family members especially over the Easter period. I have been personally impressed by, and grateful to, the Bishopbriggs Community Volunteers in “Bishy Buddies”. In one case, they acted quickly by helping a 95 year old couple with their needs. andrew.frizzell@edva.org
Catherine Buchanan our Community Link Worker in Kirkintilloch and her volunteer team are also continuing to call the Befriendees on a regular basis and give updated information to them. Catherine is constantly reminded how important it is to keep communicating with each other and what has came across loud and clear. Our clients realise the importance of staying at home and staying safe. Catherine encourages her clients to try and keep to a routine and above all not to sit and worry but to remain positive and call family and friends. Eat a balanced diet, keep hydrated and not to hold back if they are concerned about there health as the NHS is still open for other signs and symptoms other than Covid-19 . catherine.buchanan@edva.org
Pauline our Lunch Club Co-ordinator has made it a priority to ensure our lunch club members are getting a weekly call. The lunch clubs are such an important part of people’s daily routine and combat loneliness and encourage new friendships. Pauline is keeping everyone connected both volunteers and lunch club members. pauline.bowers@edva.org.uk
Brian our Community Worker in Bearsden & Milngavie area has reported that he has been impressed by the eagerness of residents to help especially offers by a few of our younger volunteers who are using their time while on furlough to help out. brian.mcdermott@edva.org
For further information on our Befriending Service, our Team Leader Anne McIlvain can be contacted on the Befriending general telephone enquiry line 0141 345 0432 or email anne.mcilvain@edva.org
Befriending …... A Lifeline
“ I don’t get many calls, thank you so much for caring “
“ You cheer me up with the sound of your laughter “
“ I don’t know what I would do without her “
“ Hearing a HUMAN voice at the other end of the phone line makes all the difference! “
Covid-19 & Social Enterprise
At EDVA we recommend that before accessing funding or other business support, please examine all options and carefully consider what is most appropriate for your Social Enterprise or group. Then contact us with any questions or requests for information.
Emergency Funding and Engagement
EDVA’s Core staff have been assisting with the emergency funding streams which have become avail-able for third sector and community groups to deal with the emergency. These include:
Resilience Fund
Supporting Communities Fund
Wellbeing Fund (which TSIs will assess for)
Our Core staff will continue to work with community groups, smaller third sector organisations and social enterprises on other critical issues such as business continuity, employability advice, signposting and trying to source basic PPE where this is required.
Also see official Scottish Government general advice and information on COVID-19 Coronavirus for individuals – and the new website for practical information and advice coronavirusadvice.scot – plus live Coronavirus Tweets from Scotland and UK authorities.
Resources for support:
See the dedicated COVID-19 Third Sector Information Hub.
The Scottish Government £20 million emergency Third Sector Resilience Fund plus other grant programmes that may be accessed by social enterprises – please consider all available funding schemes before applying.
View other funding sources, including non-government funding sources, on our dedicated funding page.
The Scottish Government Coronavirus business support. The Scottish Government Coronavirus helpline is 0300 303 0660 – the line is extremely busy – please try the support website first.
Advice and guidance for small businesses from the Federation of Small Businesses on reducing the risks of disruption from the COVID-19 virus to you and your business
Use the 10 Steps to a safer business self-assessment and other resources from the Scottish Business Resilience Centre.
If further assistance or information is required, contact Graham Branscombe, Development Officer (Social Enterprise) graham.branscombe@edva.org or Luke Emerton, Community Builder Development Officer luke.emerton@edva.org or Telephone 0141 578 6680
Community
HUGE LOCAL RESPONSE TO NATIONAL VOLUNTEER APPEAL
Several weeks ago the Scottish Government announced a national volunteer scheme where people could volunteer to register in the community. A total of 835 people who live in the area have registered with the Scheme to volunteer in East Dunbartonshire.
This is a significant response and is indicative of the high levels of participation and community involve-ment there is in the area.
We are currently in the process of matching people who have registered with the Scheme to the needs and requirements of local organisations and community groups in order to target volunteers more effectively to where assistance is required in the community.
Although we are hoping to place prospective volunteers with activities, given this significant response, there may not be sufficient local opportunities for all the people who have registered to volunteer.
Information
Supermarkets
Recently the ways in which supermarkets operate have been subject to significant changes. At present supermarkets are constantly monitoring the guidelines from the UK government in relation to Covid-19 and adapting their work practice in relation to this. Most customer service departments are exceptionally busy at this time so the recommendation is to consult the websites of individual supermarket retailers for the most current information on opening times, health and safety, buying restrictions and priority shopping.
ACTION ON HEARING LOSS
In light of the rapidly changing circumstances of coronavirus, Action on Hearing Loss Scotland are cur-rently unable to operate our Hear to Help service in community settings across the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board Area.
We are able to send hearing aid batteries to NHS hearing aid users in these health board areas.
To receive batteries:
Greater Glasgow and Clyde Please email: heartohelpglasgow@hearingloss.org.uk or telephone or text: 07391 017781
You can also find more information here:
https://www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/about-us/our-work-across-the-uk/scotland/
EDVA (East Dunbartonshire Voluntary Action )
This document can be made available in different format if required. Just contact us through any of the above.
Registered Scottish Charity No. SCO42983
