|
No one should be hungry at Christmas, or at any other time of year. That’s why with central Government funding, local Councils are investing over half a million pounds into the Somerset Food Resilience Plan. The plan and fund is there to provide food for emergencies while families and individuals find their feet during the Coronavirus pandemic and beyond.
The Food Resilience Plan will work alongside the Government's £170m Covid Winter Grant Scheme, which the government made available to local councils to support vulnerable families. Somerset’s schools will be funded to support families who receive free school meals or need some extra financial support over the Christmas holidays. This will benefit around 11,000 children.
Since March Somerset County Council has been working hand-in-hand with the four district councils and partners in health, care and the voluntary sector delivering well over 1,000 emergency food parcels and distributing nearly 75,000 items of food and essential supplies to communities, care homes and families. This has been achieved through the Food Resilience Task Force, one of many initiatives working to tackle the issues caused by the pandemic.
If you know of someone who is struggling, please direct them to the Coronavirus Helpline on 0300 790 6275 and select option 1.
What is the Food Resilience Plan?
Volunteers in our communities have done a great job during the pandemic and have proved how strong our communities are, especially when they work together.
So, the Somerset Food Resilience Plan will build on the success of these partnerships by linking everything together in a yet more coordinated way, to reach the people who now or who still need help.
The funding is being invested in several projects that will help communities cope with the immediate demand caused by the pandemic as well as help plan for the future by providing the funding and tools they need to support themselves going forward.
School caterers cooking up a storm
Some of the funding has been used to pay school caterers to provide healthy meals ready for emergencies. The meals are frozen and stored ready to be delivered by partners, such as the Community Council for Somerset’s (CCS) Village Agents. On top of this, funding is being used so community groups can themselves produce meals and food boxes to add to the emergency food capacity.
Citizens Advice support Food banks
A further £100,000 has been allocated to support Somerset’s food banks to meet the increased demands brought about by the pandemic. Grants of between £2,000 and £3,000 have been awarded to several food banks across the county.
The additional support includes funding for two Citizens Advice case workers, who will work with the food banks to offer wraparound support for people eligible for food parcels. They will be able to signpost them to further services, which can help with organising finances, housing issues, mental health and more.
Food Resilience Taskforce
Somerset’s Food Resilience Taskforce sprang into action over the half term with CCS Village Agents and community groups and volunteers delivering nearly 1,000 meals to families in need to help prevent holiday hunger. The task force link up excess or donated food with groups across the County who can either use it for meals or to make up food parcels. Raj Singh, CEO of CCS said: “We have had full support from our all of our community here in Somerset helping us feed individuals and families throughout the pandemic. Please get in touch and join our movement, you will be warmly received." Raj can be contacted at: raj@somersetrcc.org.uk
Community Pantries
Another funding initiative is for County-wide Community Pantries. After two successful launches in the Sedgemoor area it is hoped that during 2021 we can introduce and support some community pantries across the SWT district. Again funding and support will be made available to groups ready to work in partnership and the first information event (26 November) was well attended and well received.
For further information on this initiative please contact Helen Phillips at: H.Phillips@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk
Somerset has been placed in Tier 2 when the national lockdown ends on 2 December. Tier 2 is for areas with a higher or rapidly rising level of infections, where some additional restrictions need to be in place. Neighbouring areas – Bristol and North Somerset – will be in Tier 3.
More information about the coronavirus restrictions are available on the Government website
The Government has published guidance for Christmas arrangements. It is available here.
The Government is encouraging people to open their windows and keep their homes well ventilated during the winter because research has shown being in a room with fresh air can reduce the risk of infection from Coronavirus by over 70 per cent.
As the weather turns colder, we tend to spend more time indoors, so experts recommend you open windows for short, sharp bursts of 10 to 15 minutes regularly during the day or leave windows open a small amount continuously. This helps to remove any infected particles lingering in the room.
Airing indoor spaces is particularly important if someone in your household has coronavirus as it can help prevent it spreading to other household members.
The Covid Community Champions network gives local people a role in helping their community to get up to date information and make the right choices to stay happy and healthy in these difficult times. If you, or someone you know might be interested in a becoming Covid Community Champion, you can find more information and sign up for the next training session here
A co-ordinated network of employment and skills support for individuals, employers and businesses seeking support and information in relation to employment, skills, careers and apprenticeships is being rolled out across Somerset under the Step Up Somerset brand to boost existing provision in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
This includes their new one-stop-shop website www.stepupsomerset.org.uk. For anyone without internet access further one-to-one help can also be provided via a single phone helpline: 0300 790 6275.
|
At sites like Cothelstone Hill over the next few years trees will be planted to help diversify the woodland and to repair the damage done by ash dieback disease.
|
|
 |
 |
|
To do this the AONB staff need young trees to plant – and trees grown from local seeds, from the Quantock area, would be ideal.
|
|
This is where you come in! You can help at home by growing new trees from seed you have collected.
|
|
 |
 |
|
This time of year is great to get outside and look for them.
Not only will you get to watch the magical transformation of a seed into a tree, you will also be helping to make the woodlands of the Quantock Hills AONB a better place.
|
It’s completely normal for people to be feeling a wide range of emotions, including worried, anxious, frustrated and scared. Somerset Health and wellbeing is a website where you can find information about how to help manage these emotions, promote wellbeing and build positive actions into every day.
There is also a wellbeing and mental health guide that you can view there or download. For more details follow link here or in the key links section below.
Somerset County Council wants to explore how people currently look for information, advice and services in Somerset thinking about how to help people to stay healthy and well.
They have a short survey to capture this information, please do complete it if you can.
It is available here.
 This winter, CCS Village Agents are putting together Christmas gift boxes for people in need in West Somerset & Taunton.
Please spread the kindness and donate small useful gifts to one of the many Christmas boxes in a shop near you!
They will be collected for preparing around the 9/10 December.
Waste bosses and fire chiefs are asking Somerset motorists to put the brakes on problem parking this festive season. The COVID-driven rise in home working has meant more access issues for collection trucks and fire engines as space on residential streets is at a premium.
For more information on what can be done see website.
|
