On the call

1 GoodGymer made their way to help their local community in Chelmsford.

: Sunday, 29th of March 2020
: Led by Elizabeth

Despite socially distancing in Essex for the foreseeable future, I've been keen to stay involved and active through volunteering. Luckily, my local area seems to be blessed with a large number of Covid-19 mutual aid groups for me to join!

The operation is simple: someone contacts a call handler for my local area, who takes down the name and contact details of the person to be helped along with details of what needs doing. They then post details of the job in the most geographically appropriate WhatsApp group (to give you an indication, I'm a member of 7 groups, which cover a 4km radius north of my home).

Yesterday, I volunteered to give Mr P a phone call today to check up on him.

It only took a brief 10 minutes to be reassured that Mr P has plenty of food in his home (phew!), and to find out that some recent medication for a chest infection from the doctor is disagreeing with him (boo!). After a little more chit-chat, I offered to call back later in the week to see if he needs a new prescription picked up, and to see if he needs any food or essentials. It was a simple offer, but seemed to place his mind at rest: There are people out here to help, and he won't be forgotten 😊

Report written by Elizabeth

Discuss this report

John Hayes

Sunday March 29th, 2020 20:35

Fantastic! The simple strength of good deeds are going to show acutely at this moment. It is always the case that the volume of effort from the volunteer does not have to match the impact on the recipient, but more than ever we can do so much by doing what seems like very little to us. It’s the impact which is key and you have felt and expressed that so well.

Elizabeth

Sunday March 29th, 2020 22:57

Thank you John :)

I have to admit, I really love being part of the mutual aid group chats: everyone's so eager to help their community. It's really inspiring and comforting to know that these are my neighbours 🥰