offering to do shopping trips for elderly/people unable to go

[JS33]

Actually, I also had another thought, in part inspired by another thread on the forum, that I'd be interested in forming a neighborhood shoveling brigade. As someone who comes from a place where snow is a little more common, I found it amazing that a few centimetres of snow could become such a catastrophe. If I owned or had access to a shovel, I would have been happy to spend 20 minutes shoveling my entire street (granted, it's only 2 blocks long!) and then we wouldn't have had to deal with skating across a sheet of ice for the last week.

I'm sure there are others in the area who would be similarly happy to put in the time, but who perhaps have the same problem I do, which is that I live in a small upper-storey flat with no room to store a shovel for the 360 days/year that I wouldn't actually be using it.

Any takers for forming a network of collectively-owned shovels, with people designated to store them? Honestly, I'd be happy to buy a shovel and do the shoveling if someone who lived nearby was willing to house it for me.

[Pugwash]

I think if a Dulwich Emergency Group could be formed who could spring into action as and when required to do odd shopping and snow clearance for those housebound - could also include mums with very young babies.

If perhaps if someone could plot responses according to street then it would be a simple matter to say that x lives in landells and it is known that there are 2 people in Landells who may need assistance then a 'match' could be made.

I would be willing to give a hand - work fulltime but happy to do what I can at weekends.

Just a word of warning, there are still some people out there who would do anything to gain the trust of vulnerable people, so caution and common sense is needed when offering help. If you purchase anything on behalf of someone - always keep the receipts. Older people are usually apprehensive about strangers who offer to help, so be sensitive to this.

[EDmummy]

@pugwash, we have something almost similar in Oz. Volunteer members of a State Emergency Service, who offer all sorts of help to people in isolated situations (usually during periods of high fire alert, other types of weather influenced situations). A local ED task force could offer all sorts of fantastic support to isolated people locally. My neighbour and I look out for our immediate older and infirmed neighbours but I would definitely be interested in helping more where I can.

[steveo]

Lots of volunteers. Good people. Anything happened yet?

[zeban]

Not yet :'(

Any ideas how we could get started? I've got a cupboard so could store a shovel or two at The Gardens. Got very icy around here- I fell over! Apparently the snow will be back soon according to weather forecasts.

[computedshorty]

The East Dulwich Forum Community Volunteers.

Snow Clearing.

A volunteer must live very close to any person they want to help, simply for the reason they themselves will be effected by the snow, so cant expect to get far, it is more likely that the person will know you or at least have seen you about, and trust you.

It might be best to confine yourself to just a block between two named roads.

What is needed is a list of the things we need to know.

What place are you prepared to clear? Answer could be: Lordship Lane between Pellatt Rd & Heber Rd ( I choose this as it is a hill ).

Do you have a shovel or hard bass broom. Answer Broom but no shovel.

When are you available? Answer Weekend

How can you be contacted? Mobile Phone No XXXXXX or EDF Message board.

If you cant help clean would you make the clearers a hot drink or allow your toilet to be used by the cleaners?

_______________

The East Dulwich Forum Community Volunteers.

Emergency Shopping

Those who would offer help by getting emergency shopping.

How much shopping could you offer to get for them?

If you do call on a person before going off to get what they want make sure they have heating and no other problems.

Make sure that you have a means of paying for the goods bought, and get a receipt to show how much things did cost.

It might be sensible not to take them with you to the shops in the frozen snow.

Get their Phone number so that you can arrange another visit later, old people like to know that there is a person ready to help out there just a phone call away.

A list of volunteers should be made, to keep your identity private here, I would suggest just giving a Phone number.

Should this arrangement work perhaps we could list who was helped for the future.

[Pugwash]

At this stage I would also suggest that we talk to the Safer Neighbourhood Police Team as the last thing we would want is someone to report suspicious actions. Sgt.Duncan Jackson or PC. Adrian Crust - I would think Adrian is the best choice as he is also aware of the Neighbourhood Watch Co Ordinators in the various streets who may also want to get on board

[Lucyd30]

Hi

I have emailed Dulwich Helpline to see if they have anyone in this area who needs some help. I will keep you posted!

Lucy

[jrthomas_uk]

I'd also love to be involved in this, such a fantastic idea.

[Lucyd30]

Dulwich helpline responded - they would like to accept offers of those people looking to help in these extreme weather conditions (and also over a longer term basis for those interested). They can put us in touch with people if they get contacted for support. I would advise emailing and letting them know what area you can over.

L

[computedshorty]

It might be brought to the attention of the person accepting a Voluntary offer from the East Dulwich Forum Volunteers that is accepted that any snow cleared from the pavement to the front door, and deposited on other parts of the garden is done so without knowing what lies beneath the lying snow, should any garden ornament or plant or any other item become damaged, the person offering this help will not be held responsible.

There is no guarantee that the path that is cleared is safe to use.

It might be better to have a list of those who are interested in helping so that help can be asked for rather than us going out seeking potential people to help.

It might even help if the contact was Shown at Dulwich helpline

[Lucyd30]

Do you mean the contact at the helpline? I just took this from Jame's Barbers earlier post.

[Lucyd30]

Also just to re-iterate in case I am not being clear- I contacted them to offer support, should they have requests in my area - I didn't specifically mention the snow clearing (which is a great idea). I thought initially the issue some of us our having is knowing how to reach out to those who need a helping hand.

[JS33]

Hello, these are all great ideas.

Perhaps we should designate a few people as the central contact people, who would keep a spreadsheet of the info suggested by computedshorty? We could periodically circulate the list to everyone who's on it, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who would prefer not to post my personal details online. I also agree that we should be careful not to make it too easy for someone dodgy to use this network as a way of taking advantage, and it might be a good safeguard for people offering personal services, like shopping, to have "registered" their details somewhere, as a minimal form of validation. Anyone else have thoughts about the most efficient way to organise all this?

The shopping/errand part seemed like the bigger organisational challenge, and here's my best stab at a proposal. Perhaps people could be directed to contact one of the organisers, who could email/PM/text the volunteer group with the name/location/phone number of the person needing help, and hope that one of the volunteers gets in touch. (We could advise the person to get in touch again if no one responds, so we can send out a second round appeal, assuming that people might be willing to help someone a bit farther away if they knew no one else had volunteered.) A little cumbersome, but I can't think of a way of another way of doing it that wouldn't either involve all of us publishing our details to the world, or a bit too much research/time/effort from the coordinators.

Anyways, I'm happy to volunteer as one of the info collectors. I can't be the only one, though, as I'm about to be out of the country for two weeks and would need to hand off to someone else for that time.

Zeban, I live near Goose Green and would be happy to store a shovel at yours in exchange for agreeing to clear at least Gowlett Road!

Perhaps we should start a new thread with a broader subject line? I'm guessing a lot more people in the neighborhood would be willing to sign up for something, if they know this was in the works.

[JS33]

And, thinking about all this a bit more, it seems like the shoveling part is even easier. We don't actually need to know who is offering to clear what -- we just need to know how to get the shovels. If by some lucky chance someone else has cleared our "chosen" street, we'll just pick a different one.

Perhaps walk-clearing for those in need of help could then be handled the same way I'd suggested for shopping services (for instance, if I saw a request for help somewhere near me, I'd get in touch with Zeban to arrange to pick up a shovel).

And, on the shovel-storage front, I may just pop down to the Gowlett and see if they'd let me borrow their shovel, if they have one, or let me store one there. I would guess that lots of businesses might be happy to trade some storage space if it meant people could get to them more easily in bad weather!

[Sue]

Sorry haven't read all this thread, but I'd be happy to be on a list of people willing to do shopping for anybody who can't get out of their house because of weather conditions (provided I can get out of my house of course :)) )

Please whoever is organising it (respect) PM me letting me know what details you want from me.

[JS33]

I've just started a new thread for this discussion -- http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,585145 - -and am still thinking about the best way of organising. Can I suggest moving any further discussion to that thread, just to keep things tidy? Also, would love some help in organising the administrative side of things (and will also call the Helpline to see how well set up their infrastructure is, in terms of matching volunteers to people needing help, as it would be great to use something that already exists).

Also, fyi, the Gowlett has agreed to lend me their shovel. I'm guessing other pubs/businesses would be happy to do the same (maybe in exchange for some sort of deposit, just to make sure they get their equipment back).

[computedshorty]

Several members have now put forward their readiness to help their immediate neighbours, it is a shame that nobody has come forward to make the list so that it is at least available somewhere.

I have added the names of those that have indicated that they are available in an emergency only.

If your name is on the list and if you are still available to help, would you copy and paste this list into a new reply and type below the heading after your name, where you are available to help and the help offered.

Please add anything that might help, and any more willing add your title

Volunteer.....................Area of help........................Help in Snow...........Shopping............Lifts.......Visiting

computedshorty...Lordship Ln Goodrich/Crystal.......Make Tea

Alec John Moore

zeban

Pugwash

ryedalema

espellii

caro ed

Lucyd30

JS33

Sue

[computedshorty]

Just trying It does look strange when you type but it comes out OK

Volunteer.....................Area of help........................Help in Snow...........Shopping............Lifts.......Visiting

computedshorty...Lordship Ln Goodrich/Crystal.......Make Tea.......Store Shovels

Alec John Moore

zeban

Pugwash

ryedalema

espellii

caro ed

Lucyd30

JS33

Sue

[Sue]

computedshorty Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Several members have now put forward their

> readiness to help their immediate neighbours, it

> is a shame that nobody has come forward to make

> the list so that it is at least available

> somewhere.

>

> I have added the names of those that have

> indicated that they are available in an emergency

> only.

>

> If your name is on the list and if you are still

> available to help, would you copy and paste this

> list into a new reply and type below the heading

> after your name, where you are available to help

> and the help offered.

>

> Please add anything that might help, and any more

> willing add your title

>

> Volunteer.....................Area of

> help........................Help in

> Snow...........Shopping............Lifts.......Vis

> iting

> computedshorty...Lordship Ln

> Goodrich/Crystal.......Make Tea

> Alec John Moore

> zeban

> Pugwash

> ryedalema

> espellii

> caro ed

> Lucyd30

> JS33

> Sue

xxxxxxxxxx

Are you wanting us to post our information on here? Who is going to coordinate this? Sorry but I have lost track because there is more than one thread.

Wasn't there also an issue about CRB checking, which not everybody will have had done?

Will there be crossover with other voluntary helpers which needs to be sorted out first?

[JS33]

I've been continuing to think about how best to organise this effort, although I'm afraid I'm not able to get on the computer every day. For the same reasons, I'm very far from being the perfect coordinator, by the standards computedshorty has suggested. Although meeting that rather high standard would be ideal, unless an ideal coordinator happens to want to identify him/hersel, I'm wondering whether we might be better off trying to figure out an approach that would require less work/centralisation.

Here are some further thoughts. Alec, I took a look at StreetBank (and joined it),and love the idea, but not the fact that it doesn't show where people were. For instance, if 20 other neighbours also posted shovels, I wouldn't easily be able to figure out which one is closest to me. Instead, I'm wondering whether a coded wiki map would be the best way to store our information. I've created a sample on Google Maps with one data point (me) by way of example. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=111397185803866583447.0004972b3021d360c6595&ll=51.462869,-0.069898&spn=0.000638,0.002411&z=19. We could use different colours/symbols to show what people are offering, and this way once someone is a member they can update their own details.

I've made this version public so you can all see it for the moment, but would suggest making it private if we go this route, so only people in the network can access it. Once it's private, we can include things like our email address and mobile number.

With regard to creating a contact point, because I think we may have trouble finding anyone who has enough time to serve as a permanent coordinator, I've been thinking about easy ways to get the job done. Here are some options -- please let me know what you think.

1) Publicise this fledgling service now and make people find out who their local contact is ahead of time. With this option, we perhaps leaflet/post flyers now asking people to let us know if they might need help in the future so we can put them in touch with someone who lives nearby. Since this wouldn't be time-sensitive if done in advance, there's a chance that one person (maybe me) could do the matches. Obviously, it isn't such a great system for handling things once there's actually an emergency situation, because I can't guarantee I'll be able to respond in a timely manner.

2) Create a central contact number that we take turns manning. There are various companies that can set up virtual telephone numbers with voicemail, and that give you the ability to forward calls to that number easily. I have a number like that through SkypeIn -- I pay a yearly subscription for it, there is voicemail attached to the account, and I can forward any calls to that number to any other number by just logging into my account. For instance, it usually forwards to my landline, but if I'm traveling I set it to forward to my mobile. Skype is the only provider that I'm familiar with, but they all seem fairly similar with regard to how they're priced -- all of them charge an upfront payment to "rent" the number for some period of time, and then

charge some usage-based amount depending on the volume of calls forwarded.

If we had such a number and a pool of people willing to serve as temporary coordinators, we could take it in turns to take calls. If we went with the map, that would make it a bit easier for the coordinator to take a call and contact the two or three closest people to ask them whether they could help. That might be a more focused approach than the mass text/email I originally suggested, although I think that approach also has advantages. For instance, although some days I won't be free at all, on others I'll be willing to spend hours running errands/shoveling/whatever for people, even if they live nowhere near me.

Anyways, I'm interested in hearing everyone's thoughts on this. Zeban, thanks for starting the thread -- even if we don't manage to put together anything organised, I'm at least going to try and figure out which of my immediate neighbours could use some help.

[Sue]

I think Option 1 seems sensible. I don't think having a load of people being temporary coordinators would work.

Anybody potentially needing help could be given the names/phone numbers of two nearby people, in case the first wasn't available.

However there is still the issue of CRB checking etc..

Apart from anything else it would give peace of mind to the people requiring the help.

[computedshorty]

I think that simplicity is what is needed, as for getting the members vetted is not in my mind needed as we are only thinking of using our already member to help each other, we must have formed an opinion of the members from their messages, and would you if offered help by one accept it.

It all boils down to the Co-ordinator who should know enough about a person to send him or her to give help.

A volunteer who is upset by Dog Pooh should not be asked to clear snow from the path of a known owner of dogs that drops the Pooh in the area, as there could be a confrontation.

Likewise a request from a healthy young man asking to have his path cleared, as we know he only needs to get to the nearest pub.

We have all formed a vision of many members Male or female, how old they are ( From Birthdays ) if they work and where they work, what their job is, their local pub, their interests and pastimes, based on this whether your assumption is correct or not, it is only what you have to go by.

So a Co-ordinator must make a decision to send help that is given on the understanding that no responsibility can be taken by him for the actions of the person giving help.

Take anybody what do you know of them?

Take computedshorty who is he, where does he live, what does he look like, nobody has ever seen him ( or ever will for that mater ), we don't know only come to our own conclusion.

What is your vision? That would be interesting. (?)

[Lucyd30]

"1) Publicise this fledgling service now and make people find out who their local contact is ahead of time. With this option, we perhaps leaflet/post flyers now asking people to let us know if they might need help in the future so we can put them in touch with someone who lives nearby. Since this wouldn't be time-sensitive if done in advance, there's a chance that one person (maybe me) could do the matches. Obviously, it isn't such a great system for handling things once there's actually an emergency situation, because I can't guarantee I'll be able to respond in a timely manner. "

I think this is a great idea JS33- I think the organising will work itself out, but actually promoting what we are doing so those who need some help seems to be key here. I have volunteered with Dulwich helpline but haven't heard anything yet, so perhaps we need to find the people in need ourselves.

for the record - Lucyd30 - can offer shopping, lifts, company, making tea (Crystal Palace Road Area evening and weekends).

I was thinking perhaps we could do a tea and mince pies evening somewhere (not sure if the hall next to DMC might let us use it, I can enquire), leaflet to let people know what we are doing, so they can come along and meet us (and we can meet each other. I am not missing the point that people may not be able to get out, but we could give contact details and list of services being offered. But perhaps by offering a public meeting place, people will feel more at ease?

[Sue]

computedshorty Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>

> It all boils down to the Co-ordinator who should

> know enough about a person to send him or her to

> give help.

>

>> Likewise a request from a healthy young man asking

> to have his path cleared, as we know he only needs

> to get to the nearest pub.

>

> We have all formed a vision of many members Male

> or female, how old they are ( From Birthdays ) if

> they work and where they work, what their job is,

> their local pub, their interests and pastimes,

> based on this whether your assumption is correct

> or not, it is only what you have to go by.

xxxxxxxxxx

I am beginning to be a bit worried now about all this.

It isn't just the person who is wanting help who is potentially at risk, it is the person offering it if they have to go into somebody's house.

There is no way whatever to tell what somebody is like from their posts on a forum, as young people who have been groomed on the internet by perverts pretending to be teenagers will attest.

I'm beginning to think it is better just to let good neighbourliness take its course without any attempt to formalise it.