Hi all, 

As no doubt you have not noticed (because you have all been involved in a myriad of important community activities - or sadly caught up in the crisis of COVID-19 through illness, self-isolation or furloughing), the Grenfell Network Group has been in semi-hibernation. This edition is intended to update you on what I (Joe) have been up to and to ask you if you would like to engage in an online discussion on where the community of North Kensington is at and where the "recovery" needs to go once this latest trauma is passed. 
 
Since Grenfell Network Group went quiet KCSC, in conjunction with several partners chiefly The Venture Centre, Bay 20, KCVC and SMART have developed a warehouse and distribution centre model to get food into the hands of the borough's most vulnerable people at this crisis moment. with the support of Westway Community Transport and RBKC who provide the Covid-19 Hub and vital assessors. Crucial funding came from The Westway Trust and RBKC without which threre would have been little food in the warehouses! 
Getting to "going live" was a slow process governed by the need for all partners to be confident in data protection, covid-19 risk management, referral pathways and set-up issues. This has been frustrating for people in the community and partners alike, however, this is now behind us and we are live. Members of the community can call  RBKC's Single Point of Access helpline on 020 7361 4326, alternatively, and I think probably preferrably, agencies can fill out a referral form as they are probably best able to navigate accessing services for vulnerable clients -you can find the referral form via this link then click under 65, half way down is the referral form alongside guidance notes. Clients themslves can chose this route also.

If you don't think this is the avenue for you or someone you know then there is the foodbank route which is here, through this it may be possible to get some assistance immediately and potentially have someone help with a referral form should that be necessary..

I can't stress enough how important it is for people to access the resources we have so please start to use them as numbers turning up at foodbanks suggest the numbers in need are significant. At the Venture Centre last Wednesday we tested out using the referral form on those waiting for the foodbank, 40% of those queuing were deemed suitable. If this is the case at the Venture Centre then it stands to reason this may be replicated elsewhere.  

The process is simple referral sent, referral assessed, onward referral to the warehouse and the distribution centres North and South - bags dispatched to the nearest Distribution Centre and delivered to the home of the recipient. This model is to prevent unnecessary handling, groups congregating at a centre and people walking up to a location asking directly for help as all these actions could make food the very hotspot that continues the virus risk for vulnerable people.  The food is already packaged into single, couple and family sized packs and they are left for three days which it said reduces any pathogen load on the packages which also reduces risk.

This process is intended to sit alongside some of the, frankly, magnificent community work - something I suspect we all knew would spring from the community in the North well versed in community action.  (If you are listening in the south there are some great responses there too)

If you wish to engage in an online discussion please let me know by Thursday this week and  I will try to arrange an event for the middle of next week... possibly late afternoon on Wednesday if that suits most people.