Recent weeks have shown that working together as a local community can bring real positive impact. When coronavirus struck and we found ourselves at home following self-isolation and social distancing measures, we started seeing many posts online from people unable to leave their homes, in need of help with tasks that, up until recently, had been taken for granted.
However, many requests and offers for help were not being connected, meaning people weren’t able to take advantage of the support available in their community. In the past few weeks I’ve been lucky enough to work with my team on a new initiative that helps to solve this issue. Local Heroes usually helps connect people with tradespeople, but we quickly realised our service could be put to important use during this difficult time.
The team tapped into their extensive ‘matching’ expertise adapting our technology to rapidly develop an easy to use service that connects volunteers and those needing help in their local community, so that no one need miss out on finding the support they need.
How does it work?
Communities @ Local Heroes is a free and simple online website for local communities, connecting volunteers with those that need help for essential tasks during the Covid-19 outbreak. Once signed up, those that need help can easily post requests for support, whereas those who want to volunteer can quickly see who in their local area needs help.
Working as a community at this time makes such a difference. So, if someone needs help in picking up essential supplies from the shop, they can turn to Communities @ Local Heroes to find someone who could do this for them and leave them on their doorstep. Or, if you’re wanting to get more involved with assisting those around you, but need a helping hand with how to find people in need, you can turn to Communities to see who near you wants support. And, it doesn’t have to be something that needs to be picked up or delivered, it could easily just be a phone call to chat or help someone fix something remotely.
The community spirit we have seen in recent weeks has been amazing and it has been a pleasure to work on developing a platform to support this. I’ve been inspired by the amount of people who want to make a difference and offering a helping hand to those who need it. If you would like to play your part in your local community or find that you need help at any time sign up and try it yourself. Keep it local, keep it safe and keep your local community going!