The Parishioner caught up with Carla Morson for an update:
The last four months have been incredible, and I mean that in both a joyous and extremely sad sense.
Many of us have never experienced such an awful time, and we all feel for every single person who has lost someone from this terrible virus. We’re also extremely grateful for the NHS, Carers and the emergency services as without them the situation could have been so much worse.
Over four months, our community has come together again, driven by a spirit to help and support each other. Our volunteers, too many to mention here, have been amazing and without their help none of the following would have been possible. They’ve delivered in the region of 1200 prescriptions, made at least 300 shopping trips and ensured people got to their medical appointments. In addition to this, they’ve helped to combat the loneliness felt through the lockdown, making regular phone calls and just chatting. We’ve heard some lovely stories along the way.
Donations from caring residents and local supermarkets (CoOp and Tesco Express in Ash and Ash Vale, Tesco’s in Aldershot and Asda in Farnborough) have made it possible to provide food packages to local people who through no fault of their own have found themselves in difficult circumstances. I’d like to thank our small team (Alex, Julie & Mark, Libby, Deb & Mark) who collect the donations, pack everything up and then deliver to households around the area, amounting to around 400 deliveries since April.
Jayne, Sam, Nath and I have been in constant contact with all our volunteers and their response to be being able to help their neighbours has been outstanding. We, as volunteers, have been so fortunate to meet many more people than we otherwise would have. To quote one of our volunteers “I think the main benefit of your group, other than essential support, is that it’s driven community spirit. I’ve been chatting to two people today, for example, who know me because of the group. Before all this, I knew no-one and always felt isolated and disconnected. No-one said hello to me, for example”. Along the way, we’ve all made new friends. When this pandemic eventually goes away, we have every intention of maintaining those friendships, both amongst ourselves and also with our neighbours.
We are now working on how we can build upon what we have achieved so far as we have no intention of going away.
Take care and stay safe
Carla
