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Children are writing letters to doctors, nurses and carers to let
them know how valued their work is in this challenging time.
Supermarkets are allowing NHS workers to shop without
queuing and at quieter times of the day as with the elderly. the cards on display. They are being put on show at Bedford
School, where his grandson, Benjie Ingram-Moore, attends.
People are using their skills to raise money to support the
community as we have seen with our stories this month on
the teddy bear raffle and the young man who shaved his hair
and raised hundreds of pounds in the space of a few hours. Here, the Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve
Rotheram, launched a new crowdfunding campaign. The
LCRCares COVID-19 Community Fund, aimed to raise
£1million to support organisations helping communities
cope with the impact of Coronavirus.
Messages of support for keyworkers both supporting the
community by delivering essential items like food and
medication and working on the frontline have been flooding
in from celebrities across the country including Wirral’s Paul
Hollywood, John Barnes and Peter Moore.
Clapping for Carers
One of the major changes to society has been that thousands
of people have suddenly found themselves doing incredible
things to help others. Clap for Carers was the idea of a mum
Annemarie Plas, a Dutch Londoner who was inspired to
organise some sort of collective thanks for the people out
on the frontline. Seeing other countries taking part in timed
applause she decided to give it a go and boy did it take off!
In its 5th week (24th April), she has clearly captured the
mood of the nation. The first Clap for Carers applause was
a resounding national success, the second, third and fourth
were beyond huge and now the community clap has become
a weekly televised event, taking place every Thursday at
8pm. Social media goes crazy while people share videos of
our medical staff and emergency services outside our local
hospitals with their blue lights flashing or all the neighbours
out in the street clapping in unison for our frontline workers.
Captain Tom Moore
Who doesn’t know the name Captain Tom Moore now? The
99-year-old who raised more than £28million for the NHS
doing laps of his garden.
With the aid of a walking frame, Captain Tom completed 100
laps of the 25-metre loop in his garden in Marston Moretaine
in Bedfordshire, in 10-lap sessions.
When the war veteran started fundraising for the walk, it had
been with the modest aim of raising £1,000. Inspired by the
dedicated work of medics, Captain Tom had wanted to thank
the "magnificent" NHS staff who had helped him with cancer
treatment and a broken hip. By the time he had reached the
finish line, he had become a social media phenomenon.
Tom Moore trained as a civil engineer before enlisting in the
Army for World War Two, rising to Captain. He served in
India and Burma.
He has already been sent more than 65,000 birthday cards
from the public ahead of his 100th birthday on the 30th April
2020. 20 volunteers have been brought in to open and put
24 wirrallife.com
LCRCares
The fund, set up at the end of March, in partnership with the
Community Foundation for Merseyside, a registered charity,
has been awarding grants across Wirral, Sefton, Liverpool,
Halton, St Helens and Knowsley to community organisations
providing vital services like foodbanks, delivery of food and
care packages to vulnerable people, emotional and mental
health support and support to access benefits and debt advice.
They include The Martin Gallier Project in New Ferry in
Wirral which delivers suicide intervention and support those
bereaved through suicide.
Jessica Gallier, Chief Executive and founder of The Martin
Gallier Project said: “This fund hasn’t just allowed us to
continue offering crucial support that is needed to prevent
suicide, it’s actually stopped us from folding completely.
All the fundraising activity we had planned had to be
cancelled due to Coronavirus. Thousands of pounds worth of
fundraising disappeared overnight. This grant has enabled us
to continue running, keep our four staff in post, pull together
our community volunteers and allow us to run a crisis phone
line which is acutely needed at this time to continue helping
people when they most need it.”
Mayor Rotheram said: “We are famous for our generosity,
big hearts and community solidarity and more than ever
before we have seen this in the response from thousands of
individuals, community organisations, charities and social
businesses. People are volunteering their help in so many
ways. They are our community heroes and they urgently need
our support.
“I know many people and businesses are already suffering
hardship and need our help. But if everyone who can
afford to can give a little, we can make a huge impact
for our communities as we come together to tackle this
unprecedented crisis.”
The fund currently stands at more than £700,000 with dozens
of community recipients benefitting.
It’s a long battle and we have a few weeks more, at least,
before we can look ahead to how things will change for
the future and how life will start to return to normal, and
if it ever will. But for now, we can all play our part and
#StayatHome and #StaySafe