Waterloo community pulls together during Covid

For Radfield Home Care Liverpool North, community is key and the team has been working hard throughout the Covid crisis to help support those that have needed extra help. Proud to lend a hand, the Radfield team has worked in partnership with local charity ‘Marine in the Community‘ and family run sandwich shop ‘Spoilt for Choice‘ to provide the most vulnerable, and the older generations of the Waterloo community free lunches.

Dave Bellis, Director of Radfield Home Care Liverpool North, has been assisting Marine in the Community, a charitable foundation set up by local football club Marine AFC, since January 2020.

Dave explains: “They had set up a great community cafe which was open to older people on a Wednesday and which proved to be very popular extremely quickly – going from 20 odd people to around 60 people attending within just a few months. Spoilt for Choice provides the refreshments and there is some music and entertainment, such as a speaker, arranged for them. It’s a real community venture.”

Covid lockdown restrictions meant the community cafe had to close as it was not possible for people to congregate at the club as normal. It was then that Graeme Gardiner, Community Director of Marine in the Community, had the idea of taking the cafe to the community. Spoilt for Choice, based in Crosby, Merseyside, has continued their long standing agreement to supply the charity with refreshments throughout Covid and to provide the sandwiches at cost too. Typically the recipient will receive a round of sandwiches, a drink, cheese and crackers, a piece of fruit, a chocolate bar and a packet of crisps, all of which are free.

The free pack lunches have been popular, with Dave commenting “The sandwiches have been well received by all, indeed we often find people waiting at the front door for them to arrive. Everytime we go out they are so chuffed to see us and they are all so appreciative of what the community has done for them.

It’s been fantastic that Radfield Home Care could help and we’ve been able to build closer links with the community which we are so pleased to be able to support. When the cafe opens again I look forward to being able to take part in a speaker session, to talk about the things that matter to me, issues that matter to the older generation in later life. I want to offer unbiased signposting wherever possible and to help the community pull together through what has been a complex time for most.”

Community engagement is something that Dave feels passionate about and Radfield is committed to continuing to build and strengthen those links during Covid and beyond.

If you would like to find out more about Radfield Home Care and the adult social care support services offered, you can visit www.radfieldhomecare.co.uk/220/about-us or [email protected] or 0151 3211 770.