Support for local NHS & Legacy of War Foundation

More evidence is emerging of the impact of the nation’s lockdown in Hastings as the HEART volunteer response team carries out hundreds of urgent tasks for people seeking help in the town.

Lockdown sees hundreds seek urgent volunteer help.

Now coordinating over 1000 volunteers, he Hastings Emergency Action Response Team sprang into action the moment lockdown was announced by the Government, arranging shopping deliveries for vulnerable people, collecting medications for people self-isolating at home as well as organising volunteers to help ferry NHS staff to their shifts and delivering urgent supplies from the Hastings Foodbank.

Just four weeks in and the Team’s selfless volunteers have now undertaken over 600 vital tasks for people in the community, with numbers rising all the time.

Joint coordinator Kim Batty says the community response has been a vital lifeline to help people across Hastings cope with the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic. “When we set up HEART we knew it was going to be an important service but we had no idea it was going to play quite such a central role. Our volunteers have been simply amazing.”

Thus far the service has seen over 150 emergency call-outs for people needing help with shopping, collecting medications or other practical help, including dozens of at-risk residents called each week to check how they’re doing and what help they may need.

But the volunteer force is working in a host other fields, too, racking up over 400 free taxi rides– at all hours – for key NHS workers to get to and from their shifts at the Conquest hospital, coordinated by the ‘Hastings Supports our NHS’ group. Still more have been ferrying vital food supplies from the Hastings Foodbank to people in need across the town, and books to needy children supported by the Education Futures Trust charity.

Hastings Councillor Paul Barnett, also a HEART coordinator, says charities are likely to need HEART volunteers even more in the coming weeks. “HEART volunteers have an amazing range of skills. We know this is going to be a real test for this town going forward, so we’re committed to help in whatever way we can.”

Thousands saw HEART and other support agencies featured in a special BBC South East broadcast to tell people how to get in contact if they need help. Posters have been erected in corner shops and supermarkets, and this week the local Stagecoach bus service has agreed to put a poster with all the details in every bus in Hastings.

Anyone needing help to cope during the present crisis can ask for it by completing a simple form at HEART’s website – www.hastingsheart.com – and a volunteer will call back within a matter of hours. In an emergency, people can call the Council’s helpline on 01424 451019.

You can help HEART and dozens of charities and community organisations supporting people during the crisis by donating to the new Hastings Relief Fund crowdfunder appeal. Visit: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/hastings-relief-fund

For further information, please contact:

Alastair Fairley
Joint co-ordinator,
Hastings HEART

Mob: 07790 676801
Tel: 01424 721938
Email: info@hastingsheart.com
Website: www.hastingsheart.com

Or

Fiona Clarke
Media support
Mob: 07855 551876
Email: fiona@excesspress.co.uk