Community Connections began in 2019 as a project to bring people together and tackle social isolation. We set up a drop-in café and many partnership activities with other local organisations. We were working with over 50 members by last spring, and then… Covid brought many challenges, of course, but we met them head-on, suspending our gatherings but introducing Telephone Befriending and later Buddy Walks. Our amazing volunteers retrained and stepped up to meet the new needs.
Referrals have grown significantly this year and, although many of our members have benefited enough to move on without 1:1 volunteer support, we’ve had to press pause on new matches meantime. Coffee Connections is still available to those on the waiting list.
Now that we can have coffees and get wee groups together, we’re busier than ever. September is an important moment, as we await news of our National Lottery Funding bid. Should this succeed, we will have the next three years’ funding secured and significantly increase our staff team/ hours.
That would enable us to plan full reinstatement of our original gatherings such as Scone Café at Abbey Church (which everyone misses), partnership activities with many local organisations and so many wonderful new plans – all about meeting the needs of our members and supporting our incredible volunteers as effectively as possible.
If we don’t succeed with our Lottery bid, other options will be explored and we will take great care to keep everyone in the loop as to our next steps. Please keep your fingers crossed for us!
Donations to help Community Connections meet the needs of our members are very welcome – please contact our Treasurer, Bill Brown on treasurer@nbc-communityconnections.org