A Community Response Team has been established in Perry Common and Wyrley Birch to help elderly and vulnerable people during the Coronavirus outbreak.   

Witton Lodge Community Association, Urban Devotion Birmingham, The Net Pentecostal Church and St Margaret Mary Church have joined forces with other Erdington and citywide organisations to help residents who are in need of practical support, advice and guidance.   

Services being offered include the purchase, delivery and distribution of food and hot-cooked meals, the supply of household goods and collection of medicine and prescriptions.   

Befriending services are also being provided to anyone who is isolated or concerned for their welfare.   

The group aims to meet the needs of everyone living in Perry Common and Wyrley Birch by putting vulnerable people who require support for bespoke needs in touch with organisations operating as part of the Erdington COVID-19 Taskforce.  

Afzal Hussain, Chief Officer at Witton Lodge, said: “These are difficult and uncertain times and there will be many residents in our communities who are worried.   

“There is strength in numbers and working with our community partners and allies our intention is to make sure vulnerable people get the support they require, they get the information they need and – most importantly – they know they are not alone and help is at hand.”   

Perry Common Community Hall has been receiving donations of food for over a week now and deliveries to those identified as vulnerable and in need are set to begin tomorrow, Thursday. The Hall kitchen is also available to prepare hot food which will then be delivered out. If you have a catering background and would like to support this effort please get in touch.  

Urban Devotion Birmingham (UDB) is already working with The Active Wellbeing Society to produce and distribute hot meals to families every weekday. In the first three days of operation they fed nearly 500 people.  

UDB has also reimagined its youth, children and family focused work and moved this online through Instagram and Facebook Live while developing the means to mentor people via the Zoom app. The organisation’s home – Hope House at 148 Witton Lodge Road – is open Monday to Friday to receive donations of food and essential goods.   

Director at Urban Devotion, Andy Winmill, said: “Our essential message is we’re still here. Our commitment remains, we are part of the community, serving the community.“  

Community support operations are already underway at St Margaret Mary Church with the Perry Common Road venue hosting a foodbank, a buddy system which involves people linking with over 20 of the community’s most vulnerable residents, bespoke support for vulnerable families and children, including those who attend St Margaret Mary School and newsletter and YouTube and newsletter and YouTube messages for young people to pass onto elderly friends and relatives.  

Pastor Simon Ellis commented: “We are responding as a community team in a calm and organised way to the most needy in our community, meeting the challenging situations so many people face at this time with support and friendship.  We do not want anyone to be lonely or frightened.”

Meanwhile, a number of support initiatives have been established at The Net Pentecostal Church including setting up a bank account for people to pay money into so that church volunteers can buy food and other essential supplies for residents’ loved ones and elderly relatives.  

Senior Pastor Neil Robinson, said The Net has reinvented its regular lunch club and is currently cooking meals and freezing them ready to deliver to those who are in need.

• If you are in need of help and support – or know someone who is – please print out and fill in the attached flyer (below) and send it to Community Response Team, Witton Lodge Community Association, 87 Witton Lodge Road, Perry Common B23 5JD.
• Alternatively contact us through our Facebook or Twitter pages with details of the support you require along with your full contact details.

Coronavirus_ A Co-ordinated Community Response

Coronavirus_ A Co-ordinated Community Response