Over the Summer, Just Straight Talk (JST) applied to the Heart of England Community Foundation Coronavirus Resilience Fund and received a grant to support the most vulnerable people and isolated people in the community. Part of this funding allowed the Just Start Talking’s Community Connectors (funded by East Coseley Big Local) to treat people shielding in Coseley to a free fish and chip supper.
Residents who would normally receive a friendly phone call from JST’s community connectors during the lockdown, instead enjoyed a doorstep visit and friendly chat, with the added excitement of feeling a little bit of normality with a delivery of fish and chips.
One of East Coseley Big Local’s plan priorities was to continue to organise Coseley community meals to help people who may be feeling lonely to come together to connect socially and build friendships. These meals took place four times a year but were cancelled due to lockdown restrictions.
When lockdown rules eased during the Summer months, JST’s Community Connectors organised an outdoor meet-up at Jack Newall Court for those feeling socially isolated and in need of non-virtual connection.
“As part of the recovery process for our community, we decided to help with their confidence in those steps to rejoining society by doing the chippy run meet up. Providing chairs placed at a sensible distance apart and hand sanitiser with optional extra PPE available we decided to give it a try. The importance of eating a meal together.”
Big Local workers are aware that many people will be experiencing new feelings of anxiety due to the pandemic. Part of our work in the recovery phase of Covid-19 may be to help isolated people to rebuild their confidence and feel safe to leave their homes.
“We understand that the recovery stage from Covid was for some is going to be harder and slower than others and we need to respect that in each other but for now, it was great to feel a little more normality” JST Community Connector
Read more about East Coseley’s response to the pandemic here: http://www.eastcoseleybiglocal.net/covid-19-review/