Covid-19 has caused many disruptions to much needed services, the impact of this will be felt for many months to come in all avenues of our lives, our aim is to provide a haven from this storm while we navigate our new norm.

To help facilitate this we are looking at providing the following:

* Portable play and stay packs for families while in lock-down and out of the school setting.

* A support group for when restrictions are lifted to provide a safe place for those who have been struggling or who are now struggling due to anxiety, mental health or just in general.

*  A celebration to create something or to say thank you to those that helped us during this pandemic.

A little bit about us

Over the years we have ran stay and play sessions, held afternoon teas and had dinners for the local pensioner’s, held SEN Coffee mornings/afternoons, had crafting afternoons where we have learnt about mindfulness, and how to utilise it, and many more things.  This we believe has given us a grounding not only in providing these services but also in knowing who our neighbours are and the best way of assessing their needs.  Which in turn means that we put things in place to make sure that these needs are met.

We believe that in providing the initial support the people of our community will continue to develop and grow showing the resilient nature that they have, and by sharing their skill-set they will in turn grow in confidence leading some of them to branch out on their own either by working for themselves or by enabling them to gain employment or volunteer.

Portable Stay and Play

This would consist of packs that are delivered to a family 1 a week for 4 weeks. The aim is to target 100 families in the area, we will be sourcing some items from donations and local companies.

The Portable Play and Stay is for families with a child aged under 5 who live in the Yardley area only and will involve the below: 

•             Providing a Play and Stay package which contains varied resources for activities that can be completed at home. The pack would also include ideas, instructions and tips for activities and projects that can be made using the resources. Activity’s will be included that are suitable for siblings to also participate in.  

•             The packages would be developed to contain enough resources to last 4 weeks, we would then deliver another package every 4 weeks through to August. 

•             Other useful information will also be included in the packs, such as guidance around managing children’s behaviour. Information will be provided regarding local and national support mechanisms provided internally and externally, that the family can approach for support and guidance. This may be of particular use to those who may not be able to readily access this information online.

£7.50 = 1 pack for 1 family.  £25.00 = 4 packs for 1 family.  £2,500 provides 100 families with a month’s worth of packs, £5,000 provides 100 families with 2 months’ worth of packs.

An Oasis of Change Support Group

This group would meet informally on a weekly basis initially, with a monthly lunch provided.   The purpose of this group is to support local people through the transition from lock-down to the new norm.   This support can take different guises from help in budgeting, dealing with anxiety/depression/grief, helping with job applications, creating additional groups using this as a stepping-stone including walking groups, healthy eating etc.

We recognise that even those who have never suffered from mental health issues in the past may be affected due to the past few months of isolation, and those who already have had problems may find that these have been exacerbated.  This group would be a non-judgemental support system, where we can share ideas, where you will be guaranteed to see at least 1 person, once a week who understands you, who just gets it.

With additional funding we would be able to facilitate professionals attending and providing the necessary support, some of this would be done a voluntary basis in other cases there may be charges which is where your support would come in.

£20 would provide a session of 1-1 emotional well-being support for a family.  

£30 would cover the cost of training and recruiting a volunteer.

£50 a month would provide the refreshments for each weekly session.  

£450 would provide meals for the monthly luncheon club, for those who were unable to attend for extenuating circumstances then they would be delivered their meal for that month.  

£200 a month would provide for the specialist provision that we would need to buy in.

Celebration of gratitude 

In a time where the nation has taken the time to thank our front-line workers, it would be nice to be able to express our gratitude for our unsung heroes, this may be the neighbour who made sure you were alright when they hadn’t seen you for a couple of days, the local bin man who made sure that the litter was cleared away, the person who picked up your medication for you, who pushed a note through your door or just generally made you feel better when you were having an off day.

The idea behind this is that we have a community day, where we can bring letters, poems, drawings etc that could go into a book which we could sell with the proceeds going back into the support group.  There would also be a street party type event, once we receive approval from Birmingham City Council, this would enable everyone to be able to set up their own picnic tables and be able to use this as an opportunity to reconnect.  Part of this would include providing local/home businesses with the opportunity of hiring a table to either sell or promote their items.  Any funds from this would again go into the community support group which will help it to keep running when for as long as it is required.

Support for this would come by means of hiring a table, volunteering in creating flyers to invite the community, helping to set up and dismantle on the day, sign-posting services that may be useful for the community, or who you feel may find us useful. Printing services for creating a book of gratitude.

HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED

Please donate what you can.  All donations greatly received.  This could be financially, items for the packs for the stay and play packs or items for the support group.  Or time and support for the community gratitude day.

You can create a fundraising page and help us to hit our target through your fundraising activity.  A couple of ideas include sponsored walk/run or an online quiz.

Please also share this page with your friends and family.