Community Heroes receive £300 grant to help with lifeline services for vulnerable residents

Pan Together, the charity which exists to support and provide a community hub for the residents of East Newport, has received a grant of £300 from The ASDA Foundation in recognition of its ongoing efforts to provide lifeline support services to vulnerable local residents during the Coronavirus emergency.

Rachel Thomson, Pan Together’s Community Centre Manager, said,

“In the 259 days from 18th March to 30^th November 2020, local people have been helped in 2,666 different ways.
“For our volunteers and staff to be dubbed ‘Community Heroes’ is a real accolade and with thanks to the support of ASDA and other kind funders we can keep up our vital work to make a difference in these tough times.
“We are also really grateful for the donated Christmas gifts of cosy socks and gloves which will bring smiles to many local people’s faces.”

Supporting the community
In the last eight and a half months, volunteers and staff at Pan Together have:

dished up 1,212 lunches for adults, delivered to their doors;
done 146 separate rounds of essential shopping;
collected and delivered 126 prescriptions (many of which were on a multiple basis); and
supported people on an individual basis in many other ways – including collections of ‘surplus’ government food packages from shielding people, weekly deliveries to Newport’s foodbank from mid-April to early August, assistance with rubbish-related issues, banking support, a doorstep home-visit to a bereaved lady at a neighbour’s request and even one dog walk.

From 5th May to 28^th August 2020, Pan Together prepared and delivered 1,114 no-cost hot meals to local children and young people in real need who weren’t in receipt of free school meals before the lockdown but whose families’ circumstances changed dramatically and they had very limited other means of support.

Clare Jones, the Community Champion at ASDA’s Newport store, said,