Thousands of Islington residents have signed up to mutual aid groups to support one another during the coronavirus outbreak, the Council Leader has revealed.
In his second video update of the week, Councillor Richard Watts praised the community’s response to the pandemic, and pledged the council’s support for aid groups springing up across the borough.
“I want to start by saying a massive thank you to the Islington’s residents who are coming in their hundreds and thousands to offer to help the most vulnerable in our borough at this most difficult time,” he said.
“Thousands of our residents have now signed up to fantastic new mutual aid groups and as a council we’re about to reach out to these groups with offers of help and support to help these groups do their job as well as they possibly can,” he added.
Councillor Watts said that the council had been working with community organisations to build “networks of people” to help residents get access to food and medicine, and to organise phone calls to those who might suffer from social isolation during the pandemic.
Islington’s ‘Covid-19 Mutual Aid’ Facebook group was created a few days before Boris Johnson’s announcement of stricter social distancing measures on Monday.
Despite its relative infancy, the group already has around 3,500 members, with participants either appealing for help if they are vulnerable, or offering services if they are more able.
WhatsApp groups for different Islington wards have also been set up by a team of administrators so that help can be sourced as locally and readily as possible.
Support appears to be ranging from good book recommendations or a friendly phone call, to offers of food shopping for elderly and vulnerable residents who are isolating more strictly than the rest of the population and even wishing to avoid any still permitted ‘essential’ social contact, like trips to supermarkets.
Stock leaflets, which can be printed for you to write your phone number on and the services you are willing to offer, have also been circulated so that less at risk residents can post them through doors in their area in the hope of reaching people who may not be aware of these groups or do not have access to the internet.
‘Mutual Aid’ is not exclusive to Islington, however, as groups have been appearing all over the country. Last Sunday, 249 groups had already been created, and now an updated list shows 1,626.
While these groups are largely independently run, there is a wider national effort that helps to encourage the creation of groups and support them in continuing to operate.
Anna Vickerstaff, one of the coordinators of the national network, said in a press release: “No matter what we look like, where we live, or how much money we have, getting sick reminds us that at our core we’re all just human. And in every country it’s the old, the sick and those already struggling who will be affected worse. That’s why we set this network up – because we want to make sure that no one in our communities is being left to face this crisis alone, and because we want to try and redress some of the serious inequalities this outbreak will expose.”
“Groups are being set up and run entirely by volunteers – and our hope is that they can help to make sure people who need support get it … we’d love to see even more communities get involved too – and we’re developing resources to help people take action in their neighbourhoods,” she added.
Islington has seen widespread shortages of household essentials such as toilet roll and pasta, as a result of coronavirus panic buying. Pharmacies in the borough have also struggled to keep up with demand, with supplies of hand sanitisers and face masks running low, or running out entirely.
Despite this, Councillor Watts assured residents that the borough was strong enough to face the pandemic.
“We’re going to get through this difficult period as a borough because everyone is pulling together and I’m so grateful to everyone who’s contributed to that,” he said.
To get involved, find your local mutual aid group here.
