Statement from CEO Wendy Pridmore on 27th March:

Dear Friends and Neighbours,

I wanted to give you a further update on how Wimbledon Guild is responding to the Coronavirus outbreak. Thank you once again to everyone who has agreed to help us.

As you may have heard this week over 1 million older and vulnerable people will be directly contacted by the Government and asked to stay indoors for twelve weeks. We believe that approximately 3000 of these people live in Merton. On Monday, a voluntary sector led helpline was launched providing practical and emotional support. We are delighted to be part of the taskforce alongside Merton Council and other local charities.

Since my update last week, we are all now on lockdown which can be very challenging, bringing increased levels of anxiety and with that a tremendous impact on our mental health. To help with this our staff and volunteers have been busy providing catch up calls with our customers and making deliveries of much needed items where possible. We are also providing counselling services and grief support by telephone to people who may need our support.

The Coronavirus impact on our local community is changing rapidly and we are doing everything we can to ensure we can adapt our services to help the most vulnerable people in Merton.

If you are in a position to make a financial donation to help us support people in our Merton community at this very difficult time, that would make a huge difference to our ability to offer direct help with their immediate costs.

Donate

Kind Regards

Wendy CEO Wimbledon Guild

Statement from CEO Wendy Pridmore on 19th March:

Dear Friends and Neighbours,

Thank you to everyone who has been in touch offering help during the Coronavirus outbreak. It’s fantastic that so many people want to help and we’re incredibly grateful.

At Wimbledon Guild we have been supporting our local community for over 111 years by helping reduce social isolation and loneliness, supporting people through difficult times and enabling older people to be active and healthy. We are now doing this in new ways.

The team here are contacting our customers who do not have friends or family and we are making home deliveries of essentials. We are offering hardship grants to people who are unable to work and we are finding ways to offer reassurance and practical help.

We are also collaborating with our colleagues at Merton Council and other local voluntary organisations to make sure that support is available when and where people need it.

If you are in a position to make a financial donation to help us support people in our Merton community at this very difficult time, that would make a huge difference to our ability to offer direct help with their immediate costs.

Donate

If you would like to find out more, please read the information below, which we will be updating regularly as the situation changes.

Once again thank you so much for your help as we all face these difficult times together.

Wendy CEO Wimbledon Guild