Hampstead Volunteer Corps recruit people to help relief efforts
'We have been identifying people who may need help and making sure we know what to do'
Tuesday, 17th March 2020 — By Dan Carrier
THE Hampstead Volunteer Corps are looking for volunteers to help aid Camden Council’s relief efforts in the NW3 area.
The Corps has been set up Kate Guy, an academic studying climate change policy at Oxford University, and the voluntary group will seek to provide help for those in need over the coming months in the Hampstead ward.
She has formed a committee with her husband and two neighbours – and since Saturday has enlisted 200 volunteers.
She said: “We are liasing with the five churches in our area and Age UK, as well as the Council. We have spent the last few days getting a structure set up and dividing our area into small groups to cover different streets.
“We have been identifying people who may need help and making sure we know what to do. We are working closely with the council to ensure we feed into their plans and structure and do not double up anywhere, making sure help goes where it is needed.”
Currently being run from Ms Guy’s Hampstead Village home, the Corps hope to move to a central location – perhaps the Hamstead Community Centre – as a base in the coming weeks as the logistics and scale of what they are doing become clearer and they begin running services such as food drop offs and telephone conversations to offer reassurance and combat loneliness and isolation.
She added:”We need to get the word out for more volunteers – we need young, healthy people who can give time. There is a sign up sheet on our website.”
The Corps web page also contains up to date information of restaurants in the area who are still open and can deliver meals.
