The Community Hub Spotlight series looks at how individual local Community Hubs are servicing the 33 wards of Leeds to ensure that the most vulnerable people in the city have access to support during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over 8,000 Leeds residents registered as Community Care Volunteers in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Voluntary Action Leeds and Leeds City Council established the programme, which matches volunteers with vulnerable people in need of help with a range of tasks – from shopping deliveries to dog walking.  To make this possible, a network of 27 local third sector organisations were established known as ‘Community Hubs’.  These organisations are delivering the volunteer programme locally, across all 33 wards in Leeds.

Today’s focus is Horsforth Community Aid Project (HCAP), which has been able to collaborate with new partners and adapt its services.

Massive changes and massive achievements

Sally Metcalfe, who works as the Community Hub Manager at HCAP, has had to adapt quickly to ensure that the hub’s services are able to meet the new needs of the community during COVID19.

Sally commented: “My job has changed massively, but I suppose now, I’m quite proud of that. Now I can look back on it and at what we’ve achieved, and I think wow, we set up this project from scratch.

“We tend to do morning calls to people we’re checking in with and then the afternoon calls are to get the shopping lists for the next day.”

The new demands and activities required within the community, such as shopping and prescription deliveries, has been able to be met due to the influx of people who signed up as Community Care Volunteers. 

Sally said: “We get a lot of [food] parcels out [on Monday] and then on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, we do the shopping.

“The volunteers come in and get the [shopping] vouchers from us and we like that contact with them. You get to know the volunteers, which is useful now as we’re starting to lose a few volunteers because they are going back to work, so it’s good we have that face-to-face contact.”

Alison Young is a Community Care Volunteer that saw there was help needed and wanted to give something back to the community. She regularly carries out the food shops and deliveries, which Sally previously described.

Alison explains her volunteering routine: “I come to the hub to get my shopping list, then I do the shopping, take the items to the person and then come back to the hub to give them the second copy of the receipt.

“I do this on a Tuesday and a Thursday around working from home. At the start, I was using my flexi-time and my lunch break [to volunteer], then my work brought out a COVID-19 volunteering policy, which gives me an hour and a half each day to help – it’s been absolutely brilliant.”

Sam, who is another Community Care Volunteer at HCAP, previously volunteered at the church but is now volunteering from home as her husband has a disability and health issues that means they are both shielding.  She may not be physically picking up and delivering items for people but she continues to play an integral role in making sure deliveries happen.

Sam explains: “I ring people to find out their needs; sometimes it’s chatting to see what the best way forward is, taking shopping lists for regular shopping, getting info for prescriptions to be delivered. Sometimes they are older and panic when they run out of medication.

“A lot of people are really vulnerable and just want a chat. My daughter does our regular shop and I have a whole network of support, but a lot of people on our database don’t have anybody to help, or are embarrassed because they can’t afford shopping due to furlough etc. They don’t want to tell their friends or family that they can’t pay for food because they feel like a burden. Which is why this service is so valuable.”

The shopping delivery service has played a monumental role in ensuring the most vulnerable people are able to have their basic sustenance needs met but in addition to this, Community Hubs have been providing telephone befriending services, as people are cut off from their normal social activities.

Sam Said: “Some of the people I ring look forward to me ringing once a week. They don’t Zoom or FaceTime or even have a computer. They don’t see many people and are very isolated. Sometimes a quick phone call to get their shopping list can take 25 minutes, but you can’t rush them, they need that chat. They might not have spoken to anybody all day.”

Looking back to how it all began

New systems of planning and organising volunteers have been developed due the immediate danger of COVID-19. Although people hoped it wouldn’t last long, Sally reflects on when it all began: “When coronavirus was really starting to hit the news, it became clear that something serious was going to happen and it wasn’t going to just go away.”

It took a collaborative effort to get the Community Hub up and running. Sally linked up with various community-minded people and organisations in the area, such as town councillors, ABCD Community Builders and the Children’s Centre, amongst others.

Although they didn’t know exactly what would be needed in the early stages, they decided that something needed to be done. Sally explains why they felt this joint effort was required: “[COVID-19] was going to affect all ages and different people who are vulnerable for different reasons, and people who weren’t vulnerable in the past.”

Although HCAP have been a member of VAL for years, they don’t often manage volunteers unlike some of the other Community Hubs, so it was a steep learning curve.  

Sally said: “I’ll be honest – it’s been a rollercoaster and there’s been some times when I’ve nearly broken. I felt like I’d been pushed to the absolute limits of what I can do.

“We did have some nice surprises though along the way. For example, I was just starting to realise that we needed driving documents from volunteers, then I realised ‘oh VAL are doing that’, so it was a nice surprise.”

Returning to a new normal

As more and more people begin to go back to work, combined with the government furlough scheme that is set to end on 31st October, Sally is pre-empting new challenges in the near future: “Today I’ve had three people who’ve come direct to us, through doctor’s surgeries or through members, who now need help. That’s going to be the next challenge, as well as losing the volunteers.

“We’re just trying to get a handle on which volunteers we might lose and which we know aren’t going back to work soon. We’re trying to plan ahead rather than fighting fires.”

As the government continue to lift restrictions, another challenge that concerns Sally is how and when HCAP should go about resuming their normal activities.

“It’s going to be really hard to get that balance between protecting people but, at the same time, recognising that there is an absolute social need.

“We are able to do people’s shopping but I know of some people who are still doing it themselves and shouldn’t be. They’re saying that the loneliness will kill them before coronavirus does.”

Looking to the future

Dealing with COVID-19 as a community has meant that vulnerable people have been supported. It has been a trying time and of course there will be new challenges in the future but this common threat has brought the community together.

Sally said: “I hope our volunteers feel they’ve been a massive part of something. It’s made people feel proud of the community. I’m proud of HCAP and what we’ve achieved but I’m proud of everyone as well, in terms of the number of people who signed up. Being a part of this, I hope, has really enhanced people’s sense of community.”

Volunteers can offer practical support for vulnerable people (such as shopping deliveries, preparing meals, making check-in phone calls) or can sign-up as an informal volunteer to help within their own neighbourhood in more general ways. The Leeds City Council helpline is available so that people in need of support can call 0113 378 1877 to be matched with a local volunteer who can help.

The Community Care Volunteering Programme is not currently accepting applications from new volunteers but there are still lots of other volunteering opportunities available in Leeds. To find out more, please visit https://doinggoodleeds.org.uk/i-want-to-volunteer/

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