Coronavirus has had different impacts on Cheltenham based charities

Finding a way around the restrictions has been a big change for charities and not all of them have been affected in the same way.

Whilst most of us have stayed home during the coronavirus pandemic, charities in Cheltenham have had to relentlessly look after those who need help.

Trinity Church work hard to feed the vulnerable and give them someone to talk to. The street team for Trinity Church can no longer go out onto the streets and three members have had to completely self-isolate.

During lockdown, they couldn’t do anything, but as summer came around, they started serving food from Trinity House. They encouraged people to socially distance in the que, wear masks and set out socially distanced tables.

     The team has received lots of food donations 

Kath, the team leader for the street team says that they’ve been “missing out on deeper conversations” as they have to encourage people to leave, to minimise the risk of catching the virus.

When out on the streets, the team usually help around 40 people, but with new restrictions, Kath described numbers getting lower.

“People don’t want to come in and risk getting it,” she said.

Kings Table (which they’re now calling Kings Take-Away), another branch of Trinity Church, provide support for those who need it through praying, a food bank, a clothes bank and more. Instead of hosting meals indoors which they used to do, they now serve take-away drinks and food from the car park for social distancing, and give out clothes if needed.

Trinity Church, Cheltenham

Kings Table have seen positives and negatives from the pandemic. Unfortunately, numbers of people vising have gone down and they can’t do certain activities such as bible studies anymore.

When lockdown started, they weren’t sure if they would have to shut down and started collecting people’s numbers and addresses. Although they didn’t need to close after all, they got permission from people to call and check up on them regularly which turned into a big positive.

Dave from Kings Table said that in terms of connecting with people, contacts are at a “deeper level than before.” They also go on walks and do what they can from a distance to ensure that people are supported.  

During the first lockdown, the Government’s “everyone in scheme” allowed approximately 15,000 homeless people to be temporarily given living space in hotels as they weren’t being used. Some of these people were able to move into permanent accommodation afterwards.

“Individuals we’ve known here that have been homeless for a long time, we’ve seen moving into accommodation.” Dave said. This is a big positive to come out of the pandemic.

The Cornerstone Community Centre bring people together of all ages, faiths and backgrounds and provide support. They’ve been forced to shut and go online where they pray, do online quizzes and online coffee mornings.

Tony Solomon who helps out at Cornerstone Centre Cheltenham, has seen the positive impacts of the pandemic.

He said that “the pandemic has been challenging, but bought people together,” stating that the online site reaches “a few hundred people every day.”

“The Centre has always been relevant to serve those, but is now even more relevant,” he said.

It’s easy to forget the hard work that charity organisations do to help others. Whether they’ve been impacted more positively or negatively, it’s important to bare them in mind and remember the effort they put in during these difficult times.