This page is now rather out of date – we hope to post something more up to date and robust here soon, but as an indication of how far we’ve come since this was written, in 2020 we shared the equivalent of over 130,000 meals across Barnet and beyond, working with over 100 organisations and over 500 volunteers, who between them gave around £125,000 worth of time.
On Tuesday 17th March, the partner organisations in our building came together to see how we could respond to Covid-19 and support our local community. We pooled our resources and came up with a local community action plan that would benefit the community, enabling us to reach those most at risk.
Since then, we have achieved the following:
- 1,200 flyers designed and delivered to residents in the local area, informing them that the centre is here to help, providing details to what help we can provide, and how they might choose to help others.
- We updated our website to help inform the community with reliable and up-to-date information about Covid-19. You can find this here. We will be updating this as often as we can but for daily news and information, follow us on social media @onestonegrove
- The food bank, previously run by St Peters Church, was expanded to become a partnership project and we’re thrilled to have received donations from a variety of donors, from individuals and organisations such as The Felix Project, offering crates filled with food, drink and household items. We have converted areas of the centre (including the chapel which is now a chiller!) to store and sort food which is then distributed into care packages for people in the local community, delivered either contact free direct to them or via other local charities.
- To continue to make use of our facilities, including the cafe, Bread n Butter CIC have adapted their operations, producing delicious and nutritious home made meals catering to a wide variety of dietary requirements. With the help of kind volunteers who come from all over London to sort, prep and cook fresh food every day, the quantity of meals we are able to make everyday is increasing. Since March 23rd, around 4,000 frozen meals have been distributed via contact free delivery to families in the area or to other partner organisations.
- Daily deliveries of care packages and home cooked meals are carried out by a team of dedicated drivers that take all the necessary precautions to reduce the risk of transmission. All deliveries are contact free.
- Now that the centre is no longer open people to visit, it’s crucial we check in with regular visitors and others in the neighbourhood who may be self-isolating or identified as being at risk during lockdown. The wonderful Beaj has been maintaining contact via regular weekly phone calls to check in, offer a listening ear and signpost them to other organisations if they are in need of additional support. We are currently supporting 30 people remotely but the list of referrals received everyday is increasing as the lockdown period continues.
- As word spreads about what we are doing, we receive a high volume of calls and emails everyday from people offering to help or requesting help from us for themselves or for their loved ones. To manage this, we have designated volunteers managing our website and social media to keep people updated.
We want to thank everyone who has supported us so far for your kindness and generosity.
If you would like to get involved, here are some of the ways you can help us continue to do our work:
- As a charity organisation, we rely entirely on donations to keep up the work we do. Every donation matters, no matter how big or small, so please dig deep and help us if you can! You can donate via our GoFundMe page.
- Donate food to our food bank. We hope to be around most days, but best to ring before you deliver on 020 8357 0923. Here are lists of the best food and non-food items to donate:
Food items to donate
Non-food items to donate
- Volunteer – we are hoping to recruit more volunteers from the local area so if you live in and around Edgware or Barnet, get in touch!
- Do you know anybody at risk or in need of our support locally? Please ask them to get in touch with us or ask them if you can pass us their details
- Share what we are doing with others by following us on social media @Onestonegrove and telling all your friends.
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