Community groups and volunteers have come together throughout Dundee to help vulnerable people who are self-isolating.
A number of new initiatives have been set up over the past few days to organise food deliveries to the elderly and those with health conditions.
Established charities such as Dundee Food Train, a shopping and befriending service for pensioners, are also appealing for volunteers to help meet unprecedented demand on their services.
Emma Black, fundraising and marketing manager of DFT said: “We’ve been operating for 25 years and with recent coronavirus developments we’ve been getting a lot more referrals than normal.
“That, combined with the fact that many of our volunteers are over 70 themselves and having to self-isolate, means there will be an impact on our services.
“We need to sign up more volunteers to be able to meet the demand.
“What we do is collect shopping lists from elderly people, then volunteers go to the shops and deliver the shopping to people’s homes.
“We also offer a befriending service but that will have to be done over the phone for the time being.”
A similar initiative, called Covid19 Dundee Support, has been set up by community art engagement group Imagine Scotland and Re:Connected, an organisation helping care-experienced young people into employment.
The collaborative project is working with food banks, third sector and faith organisations to deliver essentials to vulnerable people and is looking for donations of hand sanitiser, soap, toiler toll, tinned and dried food, baby milk and nappies.
People experiencing difficulties or those willing to offer help should can call the helpline on 01382 413076 between 10am and 10pm.
Meanwhile, medical students from Dundee University have organised a community response group aiming to link student volunteers with charities who need extra help.
Ben Porter, one of the organisers, said: “It’s in the early stages and we’re waiting to hear back from organisations about what they’ll need.
“Lectures have been cancelled so there are lots of students sitting at home who want to make themselves useful.
“We’ve had a huge response on our new UoD Students – Covid 19 Community Relief Facebook group, with 850 people signed up.”
For more information, e-mail uodcommunityvolunteers@outlook.com and donate at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/covid19supportdundee
Elsewhere, a city choir is helping spread musical cheer through difficult times.
Dundee Got Soul Choir has cancelled its face to face workshops but will sing together online through social apps such as Zoom and Skype.
