Photo credit: Slough Express Newspapers – pictured: Julie Siddiqi and Nick Garcia – Slough Mutual Aid
Free food deliveries, prescription pick-ups and dog walking are just some of the services kind-hearted residents are offering to vulnerable people during the coronavirus outbreak.
An array of community initiatives are starting up across Slough as volunteers look to help out those who are self-isolating and in need.
A Slough branch of the national Covid-19 Mutual Aid movement has been established with the aim of supporting the work of community groups in the town.
Volunteer Julie Siddiqi, who helped set up the group, said:
“I spoke to a few people like the Slough Foodbank and there’s an overwhelming sense that we need to do something.
“It can seem a bit overwhelming, where to start, but we’re just trying to pull together some of the people that already work with vulnerable people.”
Volunteers are planning to help by arranging prescription pick-ups for the elderly or those who are self-isolating and arranging dog walks for those who cannot take their pets outside.
Julie added: “One of the things that we’re going to try and do is work out where people are in need and try and get volunteers working on those streets to support them.”
Volunteers from Slough’s Guru Maneyo Granth Gurdwara, in Bath Road, are also running a free food delivery service for those who are struggling to stock up their supplies.
Basic essentials including long-life milk, tinned soup, baked beans, bread, biscuits and tea are available to be delivered door-to-door.
Sukhvir Singh, who is helping to co-ordinate the service, said:
“In Sikhism we believe in the concept of Langar which is free food for anyone that comes into our temple.
“A lot of people can’t come to the temple at the moment so we thought ‘why can’t we get the food out to them’?”
The delivery service is available to anyone regardless of faith and the temple remains open with safe-distancing measures being observed.
This article was first online here, thanks for the Slough Express for their support. March 2020