London Community Foundation - Grant

We are delighted to announce that the London Community Foundation has given us a generous grant to extend our telephone and online services. The closure of Holloway Neighbourhood Group’s Old Fire Station and Stress Project centres 7 weeks ago, left us concerned about the wellbeing of our many centre users who rely on our services to meet up with friends, seek support and keep active. Since closing we have transformed many of our activities so that we can stay connected to the community either by telephone or online. The funding will enable us to grow these services to reach more people.

“In Touch” is our new telephone support service. Our volunteers regularly call people who have found themselves isolated by the lockdown. As well as having a friendly chat, we have supported people to download e-books, get practical support around the delivery of food, and recommended online exercise classes (we especially love the yoga class [click here for the class] delivered by our own tutor, Dunya). Our service is expanding rapidly, so do contact chelsey@hng.org.uk if you would either like to receive our calls or to volunteer to make the calls.

The grant from the London Community Foundation has also enabled us to expand our Stress Project counselling service, making it available to more people and to those on the very lowest incomes. During these challenging times, it is important that people can access support without long waiting lists. Once a health or social care professional has completed our referral form [here], we can book an assessment without delay. Our amazing counsellors are able to offer counselling either online or over the phone.

We can’t wait to be able to safely open our doors once again and welcome visitors at the Old Fire Station and Stress Project centres. But we also know that “In Touch” and our online counselling will be appreciated by some for many months to come.

Take care and stay safe,
 
Lucy Bingham, HNG Chief Executive