Selsdon Food Hub has been providing services during lockdown with help from the London Fire Brigade, Aldi, Sainsbury’s, Croydon High School, 3 Gents Event Catering, Selsdon Baptist Church, Rotary Club, Croydon Jubilee Church, Selsdon Contact, St Francis, Monks Hill, Selsdon Residents Association and St John the Divine.
The project has provided:-
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Over 400 Emergency Food Bags
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More than 2000 weekly ready meals (delivered by volunteers and the local Fire brigade).
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A network of street champions helping neighbours in every road in Selsdon
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In excess of 5000 ‘befriending’ telephone calls to elderly and vunerable Selsdon Residents.
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A weekly ‘Zoom’ Quiz to keep the community entertained.
Jaz Potter from Croydon Jubilee Church who has helped co-ordinate the project said:-
“There are so many stand out individuals, if I start to name them, I will miss someone. I will never forget the days I went to buy shopping for the emergency food bags and people standing in the queue offered to pay the bill. The individual and corporate acts of kindness have been incredible.
From this week we have stopped the weekly ready meal deliveries and we stopped the quiz a couple of weeks ago. Most people have now got regular food deliveries sorted out through friends and family or on-line. To make it easier for people to get out and about we included a face mask with each food delivery this week. All the facemasks have been made by local people living in the Selsdon area. A lot of the street champions are keen to continue helping their neighbours and if anyone needs an emergancy shopping bag we will partner with the Food Stop service run by St. Francis Church to get them one. We plan to keep the basic infrastructure in place until the UK has been given the ‘All Clear’ from COVID 19.”
Andy Stranack – Manager of Selsdon Contact (local Councillor for Selsdon Vale and Forestdale) added:-
“The COVID19 crisis has been a real challenge and tragic for many families across Croydon. At the same time, it has been inspiring to see different individuals and groups come together in love to help their neighbours. I think Selsdon has been a shining example of this. Although we are stepping down a few services this week we will continue to give elderly and vulnerable residents regular befriending calls.
We also recognise that people living on their own are missing human interation at the moment. Over the next couple of weeks Selsdon Contact will be trialling a new service which will allow a volunteer to take some coffee and cake to residents and have a socially distant ‘cuppa and chat’ in their garden or front lawn. If you would be interested in volunteering for this project please get in touch through the Selsdon Contact website www.selsdoncontact.org.uk or telephone 020 8651 4944.”