31st March 2020
To ensure the safety of our volunteers and food bank clients, until further notice we are NO LONGER running our usual public food bank sessions at the Wesley Centre and St Edmund’s.
We will still be providing emergency food relief via the usual referral agencies. Please speak to your referral agency as usual and they will update you on how to access emergency food relief whilst the public food bank sessions are suspended.
Further information:
For Manchester residents, get in touch with us by email: info@manchestersouthcentral.foodbank.org
For Trafford residents, call: 0300 330 9073.
The JNR8 Building is currently closed but you can contact us by email: communityforumwhalleyrange@gmail.com
Our office phone is checked remotely and daily: if you leave a message please speak slowly and clearly and we will call you back within a day. 0161 881 3744
FREEPHONE HELPLINE FOR VULNERABLE PEOPLE IN MANCHESTER
A new freephone telephone helpline has been set up to support the most vulnerable people in Manchester during the Coronavirus pandemic, and this sits alongside Manchester city council’s online portal www.manchester.gov.uk/coronavirus where people can access up to date information immediately.
Call the team on: 0800 234 6123
The freephone helpline will initially offer support to:
- People over the age of 70 who are self-isolating and have no support network
- People who have received a letter from the NHS advising they are at higher risk or are medically vulnerable according to government criteria
- Those who are self-isolating with no support networks (ie. friends or family).
Help will also be available, but not limited to, other groups such as carers, care leavers or young carers.
The primary needs that call handlers can help with are:
- Delivery of food
- Delivery of medication
- Combating loneliness
- Managing fuel top-up payments
Other support services…
ACORN CORONAVIRUS COMMUNITY SUPPORT
ACORN is dedicated to the protection of our communities. Members around the country have begun referring to us as the fourth emergency service!
In light of the latest developments with Coronavirus, ACORN is organising local volunteers to support people in the community who need shopping, prescription collection, post and anything else they may need if they are stuck at home.
https://share.hsforms.com/1bmwJAoqrSmq4rjm9UAGT7w2tu82The details in your form will be passed onto our large group of local volunteers, and one will respond to you.A volunteer will take up your request by calling you, so please make sure you check you have provided the right number. Please note:- Volunteers will never need to come into your house.
– If you need a delivery, they will deliver to your doorstep and call you when they are doing so, so that you can pick it up immediately after they are at a safe distance.
– The financial arrangements between you (the way that you pay back the volunteer for the costs they have incurred; when you pay them back) are entirely between yourself and the volunteer as two free individuals. We ask for people to set a £20 limit per assistance.
Please note, due to the emergency nature of this work, we are unable to do background checks on our volunteers. Volunteers are requested to sign a data agreement and are only given access to your contact details after signing our volunteer form. In the unlikely event of a problem, please contact coronasupport@acorncommunities.org.uk and we will report the volunteer to the police.
If you know anyone in need of the basic food necessities…tell them to get their social workers/support workers to call us on 07506527523 and refer them.
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We are receiving and taking referrals from all over Greater Manchester, no postcode barrier.
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If you need it, and we have it, we’ll get it to you. It’s as simple as that. Hunger doesn’t prejudice, neither do we.
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Barakah Food Aid.
For The People. By The People.