Covid Crisis Response
In 2020-2021 TLT responded to the Covid19 crisis, raising £21,000 for food and hot meals plus packaging, storage facilities, rent and utility bills, enabling 28 churches to meet local needs.
When Covid -19 began, a small amount of money was donated to Transforming Lives Together from two churches in the Diocese. As several Board members were aware of or involved in various community response to the situation, we made a decision to pass the money on to 3 churches/faith based organisations to help them purchase food and PPE. Through that experience and conference calls with the voluntary, faith and statutory sectors it soon became apparent that foodbanks were struggling with demand and churches were stepping up to support individuals and families unable to access or finance food shopping.
Transforming Lives Together therefore decided to raise funds to get food and provisions out to communities through churches. This was because we already had good relationships with many churches and were able share resources with Places of Welcome and Filling the Gap churches to enable them to switch their provision to something that could cope with Covid-19 restrictions. Also churches know their own communities best and could respond in an efficient and appropriate way to whatever changing needs arose in their areas.
This is what happened over the next couple of months:
What did we raise? - Over £21,000 was secured from Cheshire Community Foundation, Steve Morgan Foundation, Action Together, Forever Manchester, Neighbourly Community Fund and the Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation.
Which churches did we support? - 28 churches – 17 Anglican, 2 Baptist, 1 URC, 1 Methodist, 1 Evangelical, 1 Independent, 1 Salvation Army, 2 Ecumenical, 2 Christian organisations.
14 in Chester Archdeaconry and 14 in Macclesfield Archdeaconry of which 14 were churches who had not worked with Transforming Lives Together before.
There were also 3 examples of church partnerships, where churches worked together and with other organisations.
Who were the beneficiaries? - The individuals and families we have supported included refugees; those fleeing domestic violence; those who are homeless; families where the wage earner has lost their job; vulnerable people at risk of serious illness from Covid-19; those living alone who don’t have local friends or family; vulnerable teenagers who are isolated and unemployed (including care leavers); people who are the main carer at home for someone with dementia, cancer or other long term illness, who need a day off from cooking 3 times a day 7 days a week; and those for whom the Government school food voucher scheme failed to work for whatever reason.
