Covid19 has caused dreadful loss and sadness to many locally. It has also separeated and isolated many from their loved ones and friends. During this time many locally have rallied together to help others. Hear are a few of the many local stories, and huge THANK YOU to everyone who is helping and volunteering.
Open Door Kitchen with Christ Church Gipsy Hill
Since the beginning of May the Friends have been funding Christ Church Open Door Kitchen. They have been cooking & delivering around 50 hot meals twice a week and have now delivered over 1,000 hot meals locally to the people of SE19. HUGE thank you to all their volunteers, chefs, delivery drivers and Rev Jonathan Croucher (and Friends of Gipsy Hill for funding) and Brixton and Norwood Food Bank and Kingswood Estate Tenants and Residents Association (KETRA) for organising and providing food parcels, and our local Upper Norwood Sainsburys too for their daily donations.
Download and read their story here Open Door Kitchen with Christ Church.pdf
The Kingswood Food Hub with Paxton Green Timebank
Epic work by the Paxton Green Timebank and their volunteers! Their work helped formed the ‘Kingswood Food Hub’. This was a local Partnership working between Paxton Green Timebank, Kingswood Community Shop (who are part Crystal Palace Community Trust) and the Community Fund (from National Lottery).
Paxton Green Time Bank (PGTB) has supported isolated and vulnerable people since 2008. During lockdown they continued to support members and the local community to help each other to use online services such as Skype, social media and banking safely. Run quizzes over the phone for those less technically savvy. Volunteers have been calling isolating people and making weekly individualised shopping trips for those with specific food needs and diets for over 40 isolating households. Performed emergency shops for those unable to work and are in financial hardship to get basic food supplies.
The team with new and current volunteers run a weekly Food Hub, including help from Helen Haynes MP, and Dulwich Wood Ward Cllrs Andy and Catherine too. They assembled and delivered food parcels to over 190 residents each week. The Alleyn’s Head pub, who are sponsors of Paxton Green Timebank, had their manager, Rob, helping with local deliveries as one of the many new volunteers.
Paxton Timebank also linked up with local charity Invisible Palace and award winning Gipsy Hill Restaurant and Takeaway Eastern Cuisine to provide over 60 delivered hot meals a week to local residents who are isolating due to age or health, or experiencing food poverty as a result of COVID-19. www.pgtimebank.org
Covid-19 Crystal Palace Mutual Aid
This local Mutual Aid group was one of the first local groups to be set up. This was set up by the CPL Admin team who manage one of the largest community online groups: Crystal Palace Local (with over 15,500 members). The facebook group has many dedicated admin support working round the clock. They helped manage the Mutual Aid, link ups with local community groups, coordinated 100s of volunteers across SE19 and this cross border area around Crystal Palace. The group also delivered a 1000s of leaflet across the whole of Crystal Palace with local Covid19 help and support information. Huge thank you to all the admin and coordinators and their many local volunteers. Their facebook group is full of incredible acts of care and support from so many volunteers for so many in the community. Crystal Palace COVID-19 Mutual Aid
Friends of Gipsy Hill
As well as grant funding for Christ Church to support Open Door Kitchen for local hot food deliveries, the Friends created the local area’s first online interactive “map” of open shops and services locally, and supported a range activities for those in isolation including the Lamp Post Art Banner Competition. The group also created dedicated web resource for local support and other local groups. See COVID19 Support
Find us on facebook too. Email Friends of Gipsy Hill at: gipsyhillfriends@gmail.com . Tweet us: @OurGipsyHill
Friends of Gipsy Hill 