The south Nottinghamshire village of Ruddington is the first in the County to launch its own dedicated web portal on the national volunteer coordination site HelpMyStreet.
This innovative move comes as the pressure to link community volunteers to those in need is expected to rise this autumn with a second wave of the Coronavirus.
Visitors to this weekend’s popular Village Market on Saturday 3rd October will be able to find out how they can use the HelpMyStreet site to sign-up or request help.
The Ruddington Covid-19 Mutual Aid Group has received support from the Parish Council and Ruddington Village Centre Partnership (RVCP) to develop the portal.
Although the immediate demand is mostly Covid-related, organisers see a longer term benefit, for example when additional helpers are required at a local event or a community litter pick, or if someone is taken ill and can’t get out to shop for essentials.
Sue Matthews is co-ordinating the volunteering project and is also manager of the Village Market: “We had over 250 people volunteering during the first Covid lockdown, and realised the potential to build this resource to take us through the current situation and beyond.
HelpMyStreet provided an ideal platform, so we approached the Parish Council to fund the bespoke Ruddington site. Now anyone in the village can ask for help with anything from shopping, collection of prescriptions, meal deliveries and telephone support. They also know that the volunteer is local, possibly even a neighbour, which we think is really important.”
HelpMyStreet has partnered with YOTI, the digital identity app used to check a person’s age and ID.
Once approved, the volunteer chooses their preferred tasks and locations. Ruddington residents, or someone on their behalf, can log in and request help, or telephone the Parish Office with the details.
A simple outline of the request is made available to all volunteers and when someone accepts the task, they get full details and can follow up to arrange the help required.
Laura Corcoran is part of the HelpMyStreet team and has worked with Sue to create the Ruddington page: “The HelpMyStreet team is based in Nottingham and it is so exciting to be sharing our platform with a local community.
“We’re a non-profit and we created the site earlier this year to help neighbours help each other more safely. The Ruddington site looks great and we’re looking forward to seeing it take off!”
