“It really helps you to stop and think about the personal impact you can have on people in the community.”
Kirklees
Written by Paul Jones, Chief Officer, Denby Dale Centre
Our aim is to connect people, relieve isolation and loneliness and improve the quality of life of those in our community. Our work involves providing activities, transport and places to meet for people in the community so we can help them live fulfilled lives.
Campaigns like Looking Out for Our Neighbours are great for us to engage with. We share it on our Facebook group and other social media, where we have a lot of interaction with people in the community, as well as family and friends of people we help. These type of campaigns really help you to stop and think about the personal impact you can have on people in the community.
It also really compliments a campaign we’re working on, called Up My Street. We’re asking people to deliver leaflets to people on their streets who may be self-isolating. The leaflets offer them the opportunity to order a food parcel which will be delivered to their doorstep the next day. In the food parcels, we’ll also be including pictures and letters from local families, which we want everyone in the community to get involved with. We’re asking small children to draw a picture, teens to write a poem and adults to write a letter, that we can include with these food parcels to cheer up someone who is stuck indoors.
People in isolation can also request a daily phone call from someone in the community – and we’ve got lots of chatterboxes volunteering to make the calls. We need people to help with dog walking, and if the isolation continues we may need people to help with gardening.
So as you can see, there are so many ways people can help out those who may be vulnerable in their community.