North Edinburgh groups work together to support vulnerable residents
It started with a meeting called by local activist Willie Black at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre on 18 March. That initial discussion got the ball rolling, lit the fuse. From there, there were email from Spartans’ chief exec Douglas Samuel, quickly followed by another from local Lifelong Learning Development Officer Allan Hosey. A community campaign was building …
The idea? To coordinate a local community response to the unprecendented challenges posed to vulnerable people by the coronavirus.
Despite years of funding cuts, North Edinburgh retains a wealth of voluntary sector organisations able to adapt to changing circumstances, so who better to take on this major logistical challenge?
While individual community groups initially started their own support schemes for local folk through Muirhouse Millennium and Drylaw Neigbourhood Centres, pooling resources and sharing information offered a unique opportunity to devise and deliver a bespoke plan to ensure that North Edinburgh’s most vulnerable residents would not go hungry or be without basic essential supplies.
That was mid-March and three weeks later, following a regular series of Zoom meetings, hundreds of local people are seeing the benefit of local organisations working together in partnership.
A co-ordinated community response to the greatest public health emergency of our lives is now fully operational and is constantly being fine tuned as new information becomes available.
Hundreds of hot food, sandwiches and essential supplies pack deliveries are now being distributed from community hubs to all who need them on a daily basis, provided by project staff and a dedicated team of community volunteers.
Reflecting on progress so far, Spartans’ Dougie Samuel said: “It’s been great to be able to play our part in a wider community effort to help and support local families.
“The Academy has become a hub for the collection and redistribution of daily lunches and weekly food parcels for members of our community. In a true ‘bottom-up approach’ numerous community partners have come together to provide a co-ordinated support over these past few weeks.
“I’m super proud of the way in which numerous organisations, many of whom who did not have close day-to-day relationships previously, are pulling together as one.”
Among the community organisations involved in the sexily titled (!) North Edinburgh Cov-id 19 Foodshare Group are: Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre, Drylaw Rainbow Club Daycare Centre, Fresh Start, Granton Community Gardeners, LIFT, Muirhouse Millennium Community Centre, North Edinburgh Arts, Pilton Community Health Project, Pilton Equalities Project (PEP), SCRAN Academy and The Spartans Community Football Academy. There may be more and apologies if I’ve missed you!
Local politicians and community councillors are also taking a leading role and community organisations like Granton Information Centre continue to provide advice and support for vulnerable people during these anxious times.
Willie Black, who continues to chair the foodshare group’s regular Zoom meetings, said: “Local People and organisations are working flat out and this has been a huge community effort.
“The biggest challenge facing us now is that of capacity. We need the politicians to get us the resources we need to keep the momentum going, because there’s no doubt the demand will increase in the days and weeks ahead.
“In particular we urgently need additional kitchen capacity and accessible community space for storage.
“News of additional government funding is very welcome and it’s key that this gets down to grassroots level as quickly as possible to enable this vital initiative to continue.”
The next Zoom meeting will take place on Thursday.
At the outset of the lockdown, social enterprise SCRAN Academy, based at Fet Lor Youth Club on Crewe Road South, launched a crowdfunding appeal to raise £12,000 to provide hot meals for those who need them.
Deliveries commenced on 20 March.
SCRAN’s John Loughton explained in the appeal: “We have had every bit of earned income and work cancelled since covid19 was announced, as well as having to sadly cancel supporting our young people face to face. This has been tough. But it’s right.
“Despite this, our charity staff and volunteers, working with others, responded in less than 24 hours and have now applied our catering and community experience into creating a supply chain where we are delivering a FREE, HEALTHY and SAFE meal every day to people across North Edinburgh and Leith (initially).
“We hope to help, love and support those most vulnerable to follow advice, reduce stress and stay home. Please help us support the OAPs, frail, struggling families, those with health conditions all access one wee crucial lifeline at this stage.
“Our direct partners include Prep Table Scotland, Pilton Equalities Project (PEP), Fet Lor Youth Club, Ryvoan Trust, Muirhouse Millenium Centre and many others including support from EdinburghCatering Co., ArtFe, EdinFoodSocial and many more locals.
“We’re delivering over 1,500 meals per week, your help will guarantee us at least £1000 a week over lockdown. Roughly £12 will feed 1 pensioner everyday for a week.
“The local community, MPs, MSPs, the NHS and others are supportive and we are taking stringent industry-level measures to maximise safety and hygiene.”
The total raised so far stands at £7500.
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