TEAMS of volunteers are in place across East Lothian doing everything they can to help vulnerable members of their communities.
From collecting shopping and vital prescriptions to dog walking and simply being there for people, the volunteers are there for residents throughout the coronavirus crisis.
Here, we look at four of the groups who are giving up their own time to help out.
Gifford
THE Gifford Larder is now operating from the village hall and is open on Tuesdays and Fridays.
The service, based in the Todrick Room, was established to support residents in the village who may be struggling to afford household and food essentials, and is also providing support to older residents who are less confident about venturing out or able to visit larger supermarkets.
Posters are on display in the village, and leaflets are being distributed to every household, with information about the larder, and Yester Primary School has been asked to ensure families who may struggle financially during the school summer holiday are aware of the services available.
A spokesperson for Gifford Community Council said tit was grateful to everyone who had donated to the project.
The resilience team is currently gathering feedback from its Soup and a Smile customers as it looks at ways of expanding the service and has started discussions about the future of the network.
Its spokesperson said: “Many households in the village are shielding and it’s important that we continue to support them for as long as they need us so there are no changes to our current situation.
“Should the network be ‘stood down’, we are committed to continuing with services such as Soup and a Smile and the Gifford Larder as part of Gifford Community Council’s activities.
“Finally, we are very grateful to Haddington and Lammermuir Area Partnership for funding towards our food projects, which help us to continue with confidence.”
Contact details
Anyone who needs support or wants to help can contact: Jo Allen, on 01620 811019 or chairgiffordcc@gmail.com
Adam White, on 01620 810298 or adamjswhite@outlook.com
Wendy Ferguson, on 01620 811069 or wendyferguson.wf@gmail.com
Or the Rev Aniko Schuetz Bradwell, on 01620 811193 or anikoschuetzbradwell@churchofscotland.org.uk
Haddington
A PROJECT designed to keep people entertained during the coronavirus pandemic has been hailed a success.
Haddington’s resilience group unveiled its lending library earlier this month, with people able to borrow books, games and jigsaws.
Chris McEwan, vice-chairman of the town’s community council, has been heavily involved in the scheme.
He said: “In the last week, we have done a lot of work with the lending library.
“A lot of the focus has been on making sure people are getting books and games, which are helping them with their mental health.
“We have got about 150 items out in the first week.
“Volunteers Pat Lemmon, Graham Samuel and Fiona McEwan have been doing a sterling job.”
A website has been created for the project, which has more than 600 books, as well as dozens of jigsaws, DVDs and games.
Chris noted there had been a slight slowing down in terms of referrals, with the volunteers continuing to help vulnerable people collect prescriptions and shopping as well as carrying out other activities.
The community councillor said there would be discussions with East Lothian Council in the coming weeks to determine the role of volunteers as society moved forward.
Many of the volunteers will be going back to work but Chris was confident they would remain able to cope with demand.
He added: “The effort of the town and volunteers and everybody around us in the last few months has been brilliant.
“Places like Our Community Kitchen and The Rotary Club of Haddington have come together to make this, not painless, but slightly better for the town and make everybody’s life a lot easier.
“It is a testament to every group in the town.”
Contact details
Anyone needing assistance can still visit www.haddingtoncc.org.uk or call 07952 003386 between 10am and 4pm.
Humbie, East and West Saltoun, and Bolton
COMMUNITY resilience efforts are continuing in Bolton.
Volunteers continue to pick up shopping and prescriptions for people in need in the village.
Shena Jamieson, who is the single point of contact (SPoC) in Bolton, said it was “business as usual” and no new people had got in touch recently.
Contact details
For those needing assistance, people in Bolton should contact Shena Jamieson on 01620 810239 or by emailing shenajamieson@aol.com
East Saltoun residents can contact Buffy Neilson on 07798 738372 or buffyneilson@yahoo.co.uk
In West Saltoun, Derek Smith is the point of contact on 01875 340722 or by emailing coruisk27@gmail.com
In Humbie, people are encouraged to call Margo Hodge on 01875 833638 or email humbiehelp20@gmail.com
Musselburgh
A FRESH appeal has been made for volunteers to help Resilient Musselburgh as the Covid-19 lockdown eases.
Organisers are keen to ensure there are replacements for helpers whose circumstances might change in the next few months as restrictions are lifted.
Iain Clark, chairman of the Musselburgh Area Partnership, said: “Resilient Musselburgh cannot thank our pool of community volunteers enough for the support they have provided over the last three months.
“It would be an understatement to say that we could not have responded to this crisis without them because, the reality is, we could not have!
“As we plan ahead for the next few months and the summer holiday period, we are conscious that many people’s circumstances may have changed and may continue to do so as we move through the phases of lockdown removal.
“To ensure that we can sustain support through our network of community volunteers we would ask anyone who would like to volunteer to sign up by contacting us at resilientmusselburgh@gmail.com and this will help us to continue our efforts in the community.”
Iain said: “Resilient Musselburgh continues to provide an emergency support to our community with the provision of meals, food and activity as is necessary, and we are currently reviewing all the emergency support we are providing so we can establish a clear exit plan as we move through the phases, and ultimately phase down our emergency response as appropriate.”
He added: “We are extremely grateful to the local SNP group for their recent financial donation to Resilient Musselburgh.”
Contact details
For more information, contact resilientmusselburgh@gmail.com
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