Pontefract covid-19 support group launches fundraiser
Credit: Covid-19 Support Group
A Facebook group dedicated exclusively to helping its town’s vulnerable during the ongoing lockdown has launched a Covid-19 Food Parcel Support fundraiser.
Having setup the Covid-19 Community Support page for Pontefract near Leeds on April 1st, Niala Ali is now seeking donations to further her initiative.
Since publishing the fundraising page on 8th April, the voluntary group has managed to raise £241 of its £500 target as it seeks to “help those who are most vulnerable in these difficult times”.
“Our page and service have been set up by a small team of amazingly dedicated volunteers, who up until now relied on self-funding to provide free food parcels to the many lonely, elderly, and vulnerable individuals and families, who do not have any local family, or a support network, and desperately need our help, through these challenging and uncertain times,” Niala said.
One emergency food parcel was delivered to “a lovely lady” and her young autistic daughter who, while managing to escape a violent domestic abuse situation, returned to a previous home with no food and no money.
Having already attracted 300 followers, the project is “run by a small team of amazingly dedicated volunteers, trying to juggle their own time between work and their families”.
Our page and service have been set up by a small team of amazingly dedicated volunteers, who up until now relied on self-funding to provide free food parcels.
Although “nothing is expected in return” for its efforts, the group did share the story of a kind gesture from an elderly lady and her unwell husband who, in response to their regular support, sent a bouquet of tulips from her garden which “brought smiles all around”.
But the group did report having also “experienced more and more people who are not genuine in their need and request”, adding that this was “a problem more and more services like ours have encountered”.
And it warned that “if for whatever reason we discover your need is not genuine, we will simply refuse your parcel even if it is out for delivery, and will notify the local council and foodbank in your area of your behaviour”.
The fundraiser was recently supported by All Saints Church in Huthwaite, Nottingham, where Reverand Mark posted a link to the ‘Special Appeal’ section of the church’s website.
Along with help from members of the community including local One Stop Shop on Churchbalk Lane, food has also been contributed through Morrison’s Community Champions initiative and its Unsold Food programme.
Donations to Niala’s fundraiser can be made by visiting the following page: www.facebook.com/donate/268621297480918/119574156365540.
