Give a hot meal and a hello this Christmas as a Tapestry volunteer.
Hornchurch and Upminster MP Julia Lopez has joined the Hornchurch charity’s call for helpers after a £95k boost from the government’s Coronavirus Community Support Fund.
Last Friday, the local MP, Julia Lopez, volunteered with Hornchurch charity, Tapestry, to highlight their new food delivery service for vulnerable and elderly people in Havering. Delivering fish and chips to residents across the constituency, Julia wanted to draw attention to Tapestry’s work to reduce isolation and get hot meals to those who may be seeing less of people over winter because of the pandemic.
Tapestry is stepping up its volunteering programme over the Christmas period, trying to identify and contact those not currently known to them who might be at risk of mental and physical deterioration, including those leaving hospital or families who might be affected by the financial impact of covid. They need extra volunteers to deliver meals at this time.
Julia said, ‘Volunteering for Tapestry is really simple and straightforward – if you have a car and a spare hour or more, it is a great way to contribute to the collective, community effort to get us through this difficult time. The box of hot food was ready to pick up when I arrived at Tapestry’s Hornchurch hub, Hopwa House, on Inskip Drive and I just needed to deliver the boxes to the addresses on my list. Then it’s just a matter of knocking on the door and making sure people get a hot meal and a hello, from a safe distance. I encourage anyone who wants to help their immediate community to sign up and get involved.’
Local charities and not-for-profit social businesses like Tapestry have made absolutely vital contributions to help local people during the coronavirus pandemic but as the Christmas periods approaches, the demand for volunteers is only increasing. The long-standing Hornchurch charity was recently given a boost from the government’s £750 million support package for voluntary and community charities across the country, receiving £95 402 from the Coronavirus Community Support Fund launched by Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden MP.
Julia welcomed the funding when it was announced in November, saying ‘My team and I were delighted to see a range of charities and voluntary organisations across the constituency receive this much-needed funding. This pandemic has had unimaginable impacts on all of us but the voluntary and community sectors have admirably and selflessly continued to support the most vulnerable. I would urge anyone with the spare time or desire to help their local charity if they can over the winter period and particularly over Christmas, where volunteers can be overstretched and fewer in numbers whilst demand for services increases.’
