Renfrewshire Council

With national and local partners, we would like to thank everyone who has signed up to volunteer and who are volunteering to support people at this time in neighbourhoods across Renfrewshire. The most important thing you can still do is stay at home and look out for neighbours.

Volunteers are playing a key role in helping support people through this pandemic and will continue to play a critical role as communities begin to reconnect, renew and recover in the months ahead. If you feel you can still help, the Engage Renfrewshire Covid 19 Volunteer Reserve Bank is still open.

On this page:

• Taking care of ourselves and others
• Volunteering
• Volunteering safely
• Local community groups
• Funds to help third sector organisations and community groups
• Where to find additional support

Taking care of ourselves and others

We know that many of you are ready and willing to support those who are experiencing hardship. There has been a tremendous outpouring of kindness from groups and individuals across Renfrewshire.

But it's important that you only help if you are well. This page explains ways you can help and how to help safely. 

To make sure you're up-to-date with the latest health advice, check here: NHS Inform website - Coronavirus (Covid-19)

Volunteering

Whether it's practical or emotional support, there are lots of ways you can volunteer to help.

For some, that may be right now in helping to manage the crisis - for others, there will be roles in the weeks and months to come. But for many of us, the most helpful thing we can do to support our NHS and our communities is to stay at home to save lives. 

You can only volunteer to carry out tasks which involve leaving your home, once a day, if you are not required to be isolating and are not in any risk categories. 

Covid-19 Renfrewshire Volunteer Reserve

Volunteer roles emerging in Renfrewshire include:

• Food support
• Prescription delivery
• Care support
• Online / telephone support
• Administrative support

Apply to join the new Volunteer Reserve and you could be helping out in one of these roles when safe to do so.

Register your interest here: Engage Renfrewshire website

British Red Cross

You can also help health and public services by volunteering to join the British Red Cross as a Community Reserve Volunteer.

You can sign up here: British Red Cross website

NHS Careers

Many health and social care workers across Scotland are volunteering to return to work and help tackle this crisis.

You can join them by registering your interest here: NHS Careers Covid-19 Recruitment

Volunteering safely

Before offering your support, please make sure it is safe for you to do so.  

Ready Scotland has some great safety guidance and planning tools: 

• Safety checklist 
• Creating a community emergency plan 

If you are involved in a local community group, we would encourage you look at our Information for Emerging Local Groups (see Related Documents or use the link below). This has the latest guidance from Engage Renfrewshire on how you can safely and responsibly carry out your support duties.

Covid-19 Information for Emerging Local Groups [91KB]

Please check the NHS Inform website for the latest guidance on infection control.

Local community groups

Renfrewshire-wide

Paisley

Renfrew

Johnstone & Elderslie

Erskine, Bishopton, Langbank & Inchinnan

Linwood, Houston, Brookfield, Bridge of Weir

Kilbarchan, Howwood & Lochwinnoch

Get in touch with us

Please use the Renfrewshire Community Planning digital channels to tell us, and each other, what you are doing to support your local community over the coming weeks and months.

Follow us on:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• E-mail

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Funds to help third sector organisations and community groups

Third Sector Resilience Fund

This emergency fund provides grants between £5,000 - £100,000. It also comes with specialist business advice from Just Enterprise to help grant recipients maximise the impact of the financial support.

To be eligible, organisations must be:

• a charity, social enterprise or voluntary organisation based in Scotland and/or primarily delivering services/activities in Scottish communities
• already delivering those products or services prior to March 2020
• needing funding to stabilise cashflows directly as a result of the impact of COVID-19, as opposed to pre-existing financial difficulties.

The fund is delivered by Firstport, Social Investment Scotland and the Corra Foundation. It is open for applications now. Complete a short eligibility checker to assess your suitability for the fund: Eligibility Checker on SCVO website

Community Response, Recovery & Resilience Fund

This fund provides immediate support to constituted community groups and charities responding to the coronavirus pandemic in their local community. Funding is available between £1,000 and £5,000. 

Only constituted groups with a governing document can apply.

The fund is now open for applications and can be accessed here: Community Response, Recovery and Resilience application form

Wellbeing Fund

The Scottish Government's Wellbeing Fund will support organisations across the third sector that are providing important services for people as a result of Coronavirus.  

Funds have supported the purchase and delivery of food, activities to support people's mental health and wellbeing, co-ordination of local activity and staff and volunteer expenses. It is anticipated that the fund will continue to support those things and much more.

The Wellbeing Fund was open for expressions of interest from all third sector organisations until midnight on Sunday 19 April 2020.  It is currently closed briefly to enable applications to be assessed quickly, funds distributed to organisations and a further review of need.  

It is anticipated that the Wellbeing Fund will open again on 7 May 2020.

You can find out more about the fund here: Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO): Wellbeing Fund

Where to find additional support

The following organisations and tools might be helpful:

• Engage Renfrewshire
• Ready Scotland
• Scottish Government Support for Third Sector
• Scottish Community Development Centre
• OSCR Scottish Charity Regulator: Covid-19 Guidance for Charities
• Foundation Scotland
• Community Councils Scotland
• Helpfulpeeps
• Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations
• National Lottery Community Fund
• Covid Mutual Aid
• Viral Kindness Postcard
• Befriending Networks: Covid-19 Support
• Recovery Across Mental Health (RAMH)
• Who Cares? Scotland: Coronavirus Support
• Inspiring Scotland: Free charity support service
• Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland: Fighting Coronavirus with Kindness
• Neighbourhood Watch Scotland
• RoSPA: Accident Free, Avoid A&E
• Food Standards Scotland: Food package provision during Covid-19