VOLUNTEERING & DONATING
Volunteering & Donations are needed in Cambridge by a variety of organizations and charity, for doing tasks like donating to food banks, delivering food, helping make masks and visors for NHS and service workers. Here are just a few suggestions, as you may have already signed up to be one of the almost 1 million volunteers but not yet been given a task, so do think about offering your services to one of these tasks in the meantime...
FOODBANK DONATIONS
If you are able to donate directly to food banks at co-op or donate cash the Cambridge network is in desperate need of ingredients and funds, and you can find the drop-off places & times here:
https://cambridgecity.foodbank.org.uk/give-help/donate-food/
DELVERING FOOD - HELPING WITH VULNERABLE
In Cambridge, excellent place to donate time, groceries, cash is the Red Hen Project:
https://redhenproject.charitycheckout.co.uk/cf/corona
or find out about volunteering via your community hub & lead cllr during the covid19 crisis:
https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/coronavirus-community-group-contact-details
Also, delivering free school lunches and food parcels during the holidays is a great way to volunteer, and give support to the most disadvantaged in Cambridge where many do not have sufficient to eat, especially children not attending school, so Cllr Alex Collis in Arbury is coordinating food prep and deliveries, often putting out calls for kitchens/cooks (based at places like Cambridge United Community Trust and Arbury Baptist Church) needing drivers too to collect groceries and/or deliver the lunches to families, so keep an eye out on her Alex's twitter feed @CllrAlexCollis OR contact via Alex Collis email at Cambridge City Council: alex.collis@cambridge.gov.uk
If you are in Petersfield the key location is Romsey Mill to support vulnerable communities and you can directly contact local cllr, Mike Davey, and if you want to volunteer for the Ainsworth Street Area go to the WhatsApp group or email to the Friends of Ainsworth Area Residents Association via UpperAinsworthRA@gmail.com
ASSEMBLING FACE SHEILD VISORS & DONATING TIME FOR DELIVERIES or DONATING ELASTIC TO PROJECT
Some friends are helping with the production and assembly of face-shields - initially provided for NHS staff at Addenbrookes and now deliveries are for wider services beyond - see fantastic project & find form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5CnLGsZjSIX9ioKEDEma4xE_aD8p7IxTVyIJkpXKQD2el_A/viewform
So my friend Sue's experience where her family assembled 400 face sheilds in 4 hours (that's 150 metres of elastic!), was very straightforward and a great satisfaction in completeing the task for a family of 4 with young adults with a family productin line around a bleached kitchen table, with each person assembling 100 face sheilds in 4 hours - you can read up about the project in Cambridge Indy here:
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/news/amp/volunteers-make-thousands-of-face-shields-for-nhs-staff-9105342/
If you understandably don't have time or skills for helping produce Face Shields, you can donate £ for buying materials at the gofundme charitable site online, track record already raised £40K and delivered 43,000 face shields and so started next 40K here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-to-make-40000-face-shields-for-the-nhs
MAKING MASKS
Design to make your own mask, or to order a kit to make masks for adults or children go to MakeSpace: https://web.makespace.org/mask/
PRODUCING SCRUBS
SCRUB HUB is a fantastic network of sewers making SCRUBS for health professionals and service workers who need them and can't get scrubs or get sufficient to clean between sessions, so if you are a keen sewer please join in! The Home page for Scrub Hub = https://scrubhub.org.uk/
DIRECTLY DONATE TO NHS & POETRY NHS FUNDRAISER
You can directly donate cash to NHS for Addenbrookes NHS Trust here:
https://donate.act4addenbrookes.org.uk/helpyourhospital/
You can purchase NHS book of poetry which is a fundraiser for NHS, introduced by Michael Rosen called 'These are the Hands - Poems from the Heart of the NHS' in support of the Covid19 NHS Emergency Fund:
https://fairacrepress.co.uk/shop/these-are-the-hands-poems-from-the-heart-of-the-nhs/
There is an ePub edition available here for £5 with all monies going to the NHS Covid-19 Emergency Fund
There is a kindle edition available on amazon, also £5 with all profits going to NHS Covid-19 Emergency Fund
THESE ARE THE HANDS by Michael Rosen
These are the hands
That touch us first
Feel your head
Find the pulse
And make your bed.
These are the hands
That tap your back
Test the skin
Hold your arm
Wheel the bin
Change the bulb
Fix the drip
Pour the jug
Replace your hip.
These are the hands
That fill the bath
Mop the floor
Flick the switch
Soothe the sore
Burn the swabs
Give us a jab
Throw out sharps
Design the lab.
And these are the hands
That stop the leaks
Empty the pan
Wipe the pipes
Carry the can
Clamp the veins
Make the cast
Log the dose
And touch us last.
These Are The Hands – Poems from the Heart of the NHS = Info to Order Printed Edition or E-Edition or Kindle
£9.99 for printed edition £5 for kindle or £5 for e-edition (all of £5 goes to NHS Covid Fund)
NHS Poetry Anthology – by NHS Staff about the NHS
Message from Nadia, the publisher at Fair Acre Press = SALES ARE ROCKETING!!! hooray! The book is print on demand which means Nadia puts each order into the printer’s system. They then print it and send it out to you. This takes a while. Amazon can no longer get hold of copies of the book as the 2 UK main book wholesalers have closed this week. BUT… if you use AMAZON – then leaving a REVIEW would be really helpful for the book’s visibility. Thank you all so much for your support and interest in the book. I hope you find it the wonderful read that I have. Nadia (publisher) at Fair Acre Press
Buy your copies via Nadia: email her @ fairacrepress@gmail.com
Money donated to Covid 19 NHS Emergency fund is increasing all the time = at £1,389 on 2nd April 2020
There is an ePub edition available here for £5 with all monies going to the NHS Covid-19 Emergency Fund
There is a kindle edition available on amazon, also £5 with all profits going to NHS Covid-19 Emergency Fund
There is a printed edition = £9.99 which has to be ordered directly from fairacrepress@gmail.com
ISBN 978-1-911048-40-4
All Profits donated to “NHS Charities Together” – CORVID 19 EMERGENCY FUND
236pp
