Hemel Hempstead charity continues to provide support to the community during the coronavirus pandemic

Community Action Dacorum is continuing to support organisations and charities across the borough during the coronavirus pandemic and has received hundreds of applications for volunteering through Team Herts.

The charity, based in Hemel Hempstead, provides a circle of support to the local community and the team is currently going through volunteer applications and preparing volunteers for use by Dacorum Borough Council and Hertfordshire County Council, when they are needed.

The volunteer centre is working with colleagues around the county to ensure that people who offer to support are vetted and allocated volunteering opportunities promptly and safely.

Dacorum has had 619 volunteers through the #TeamHerts Volunteering initiative in the past two weeks, of these around half are shown as allocated and the others are being processed.

Simon Aulton, CEO of Community Action Dacorum, said: "The Volunteer Centre have been working to prepare volunteers to support this work and the network of charities in the Borough has been able to identify issues where people have needed food but are falling outside of the known need.

"Because of this work through SouthHill and Community Action Dacorum, the Operation Shield team were able to quickly deploy food to a hostel in Hemel Hempstead to resolve the issues.

"We have also mapped referral pathways in Dacorum and sent this to HertsHelp to help them support Dacorum residents directly and quickly using local services where possible.

"We are committed to supporting Borough and County initiatives when they call for volunteers and are building a pool of people, who are being trained ready to offer support with befriending, shopping and other practical support to vulnerable Dacorum residents."

Community Action Dacorum's Store-to-Door service is now running, with isolated residents being able to open an account that can be used by volunteers to get their shopping.

There are currently 30 residents being restocked this week and the service will be able to open that up next week to more residents, this service is for those who are not supported under Operation Shield and who can afford their shopping but cannot get it currently.

Age UK Dacorum are also running a similar scheme for some of their clients and Community Action Dacorum is looking for more volunteers to support them as well.

Residents who cannot afford food should contact Citizens Advice who can refer them to the food banks run by DENS and SouthHill. They can also contact Herts Help, who will put them into the system in the same way.

Simon added: "Through our weekly meetings, we have looked at the various referral pathways within Dacorum to ensure that people are being signposted to local support offers efficiently and without putting undue strain on other agencies.

"There are five key areas of support within the Borough; Food and Supplies, Mental Health, Loneliness and Isolation, Elderly and Small Charities. Support is out there for all of these if people need it.

"It may be especially useful during stressful times for people who are isolating to be aware of the services that Mediation Hertfordshire and CAB are offering to support those with challenging needs due to the confinement of social distancing."

Herts Domestic Abuse Helpline - 08088 088 088 - is a confidential, free, support and signposting service for anyone affected by domestic abuse.

If you would like to volunteer to help during the coronavirus pandemic, visit: www.thvolunteering.org.uk.

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