Inverness church still working to help through coronavirus crisis
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A CHURCH initiative which was set up to support the community through the coronavirus crisis is finding a growing need for help as lockdown eases.
Crown Church members began planning ways of helping the more vulnerable members of their Inverness parish when the country began moving into lockdown, starting by distributing flyers offering help to all 1600 homes in the area, resulting in several residents, b;oth church members and non-members, taking up the offer of support,
In addition to members of the public, the helpline was also contacted by members of Highland Council's social work department and HighLife Highland's adult education service with referrals of others who might need support, while other names came via a local pharmacy that passed on the church's contact details.
"We have a really good group of around 35 volunteers. Between them all, we have managed to do a whole lot of good for people," Youth and children's worker Struan McRoberts, who took on the role of emergency project co-ordinator, revealed.
"That's shopping, that's supplies, gardening and all sorts of other good stuff. Some people contacted us to say that they didn't need any practical help, but asked if we could put them in touch with someone, just as listening ear. It's nice to be in that position. As a church, we are here to help the community and for the community to know that loud and clear has been really good."
In addition to its work within the parish, Crown has also been involved in a wider response by local churches by helping Inverness Presbytery set up an emergency store providing food and other products, such as toiletries, that people may not be able to afford.
Inverness Presbytery anticipated this demand would increase as the impact of the lockdown and its economic effects continued.
The initiative was also supported by Tesco's Inverness Retail Park store, where customers were able to donate items directly, adding up to some 10 to 15 crates of donated supplies every week.
Some of these have gone to the existing Inverness Foodbank, but these donations have also helped other churches support those in need in their local area. Other organisations have also benefitted and help has also been given to individuals and care homes.
"We have moved our stores to Trinity Church in Merkinch. They were the main users of the supplies and their demand is increasing hugely at the moment," Mr McRoberts said.
"Our emergency contact line is less busy now than it was earlier during lockdown and that's a sign that what we have set up is working, but also things are opening up, so neighbours are more able to take care of each other.
"But the other side is that there is more demand for emergency supplies. The project in Trinity is doing a lot more work than it was even just three or four weeks ago. With the ending of furlough, now comes the time when businesses discover whether they will survive and furlough workers become redundant workers. The economic side of difficulty is, if anything, just going to increase."
Mr McRoberts added that it was impossible to say how many people the Crown and Presbytery initiatives had helped.
"We have supplied food to a lady in Crown who was cooking meals for people," he said.
"We were able to give the Larder in Crown, which is a community action group which is part of the Hill Crown Covid Support Group, some pointers on what we have done and provide supplies to get the food larder off the ground in Crown as well. Either we have been signposted to other folk or other folk have been signposted to us and we have been able to inject a little of what we have."
For Mr MacRoberts, the pandemic crisis has also provided an opportunity to show Christian love in action.
"The mission of the church is to love our neighbour," he said.
"I'm delighted that people have a visible sign of that and that some people, who might even have had a negative narrative on the church, have had a window of opportunity to see the church really helping, and who knows where that leads."
