Buckland Support Group was one of the first groups to receive funding from Devon County Council’s Covid 19 Outbreak Self isolation Management Grant Fund, supported by Devon Communities Together.
The Fund has awarded £4,000 to Buckland Support Group to provide staffing costs for their Covid 19 support project. A paid worker will co-ordinate volunteers and help people who are self-isolating as a result of a Covid 19 diagnosis with shopping, food, medicine collection, transport of family members to vital appointments. They will also co-ordinate phone calls and ‘garden gate’ visit to help people raise their spirits and maintain important links between carers who may have to self-isolate and the GP surgery or other health professionals.
The Buckland project is typical of the 26 projects that have been awarded grants so far from the Fund, which runs to March 2022. The money is specifically to support the kinds of activity that was undertaken so ably by community volunteers in parishes all across Devon during the lockdowns of 2020.
Hannah Reynolds, Devon Communities Together Project Manager supporting the administration of the Fund, said: “Many of the people that really made a difference during the lockdowns have now gone back to work or other priorities. But the need is still there for support for individual and their families who are required to self-isolate – particularly in remote rural areas."
To find out more about the fund and how to apply, visit: www.devon.gov.uk/coronavirus-advice-in-devon/keeping-safe-well/covid-19-outbreak-management-grant-self-isolation-guidance/