Community database to support vulnerable in Lichfield
A database for organisations is being created to support vulnerable people during the coronavirus outbreak.
Lichfield councillors have been receiving calls from residents for advice and assistance and are asking organisations to provide contact details for people to get help.
Councillor Dave Robertson, chairman of Lichfield Labour Party and Lichfield District Councillor for Curborough Ward said: “People are understandably concerned about the immediate and longer-term future. As councillors, we want to offer practical help but our numbers are limited and we don’t yet know how things are going to progress.
"We don’t want local people to feel that they don’t have the support they need at what may become for them a time of crisis but we do want to be prepared for all eventualities. We are therefore asking community and voluntary organisations across the constituency to commit to sharing a telephone number and email contact address for people to get help, even if it’s only a bit of moral support.”
Councillor Sue Woodward, for Burntwood North and Leader of Burntwood Town Council, said: “People are feeling very unnerved at the moment and we want to do whatever we can to offer help. We have a thriving community and voluntary sector locally and feel sure they will also want to help in their locality. They have people in their groups who have the appropriate security clearance and training in the safeguarding of adults and children who will ensure safe support in which people can have confidence.”
Kate Gomez, well-known locally for her community activism including in groups such as Lichfield Repair Cafe, said: “I want to pull a simple database together - just the name of an organisation plus a secure telephone number and email - which can then be used to signpost people, even those most isolated, towards help.
"Whether it’s a bit of shopping by a trusted person or a willingness to drop vulnerable people a letter, this is a time that we can really show what a strong community we live in. When coronavirus is all over, I hope we can continue with this database for people who are anxious, lonely or just need someone to care."
To add your organisation’s details to this community Be A Friend database for Lichfield constituency, email lichfieldbeafriend@gmail.com
