Arbory Parish Commissioners have launched a support scheme which will operate during the Covid 19 Crisis period. It is called Arbory Connect – Covid 19 Community Support.
Letters will be sent to all residents by the end of the week outlining details. In the meantime details are posted below and will be added to our website.
Dear Arbory Resident
With the current need to self-isolate, practice social distancing and increasingly restrictive measures to contain the Covid-19 virus, your Commissioners have decided to find ways to keep people connected and the Parish functioning as best as possible.
This letter is a first response to the Covid 19 Crisis to let you know Arbory Parish Commissioners are developing ways to assist you. The situation is constantly changing, and our work will evolve as events unfold. As things develop, we will form collaborative partnerships with other organisations and of course we will be working closely with Rushen too.
Most importantly, we need your feed-back and thoughts so we can develop services which best suit your needs. No one has been here before and there are no experts other than the people living through this right now. If you have any suggestions ideas or thoughts get in touch and we’ll do our best to help.
Our aspirations include trying to find ways to do the following to make life easier for parishioners:-
• Deliver food and provisions to people who need it
• Work with Shoprite to deliver the essentials via our network of volunteers
• Connect you to businesses that can deliver to your doorstep e.g. ‘Cooil Bros Ltd’, Colby Spar, Island Seafoods.
• Connect you to businesses that offer a meals on wheels service e.g. The Sound Café
• Provide links to people that you could teach via a video feed
• Ringing people regularly to check they are ok
Of course we will be taking every necessary precaution to stop the virus spreading.
We are thinking about setting up a ‘traffic light’ community monitoring scheme but we need volunteers to make it viable. Basically, you put a card up in your window depending on your needs as follows:
Green means all is good
Amber means that I need some help like shopping
Red means in need of immediate help.
At present don’t have enough people to check the whole parish but if we get enough volunteers, we’ll set up the scheme and write again to let you know.
Another service already up and running is for people self-isolating who want to talk to a therapist about these very troubling times. Arbory Parish Commissioners working through local charity Quing are offering free 30 minute appointments with their team of qualified therapists via video call. Please contact our Clerk if you want to arrange an appointment.
IT IS VITAL WE HAVE A STRONG GROUP OF FLEXIBLE VOLUNTEERS IF WE ARE TO FULFIL OUR ASPIRATIONS. Already several volunteers have stepped forward to help. If you are under the age of 55 and have no underlying health conditions, please let us know how you can assist.
If you are interested in helping or if you need any help please call or email our Clerk or Deputy Clerk as follows:-
Deputy Clerk – Colin Kniveton on 836454 or at deputyclerk@arbory.gov.im
Clerk – Phil Gawne on 834501 or at clerk@rushen.gov.im
Colin will be co-ordinating the Arbory effort whilst Phil focuses primarily on Rushen and of course you can also contact one of your commissioners too.
To keep up to date with the latest news, follow our FaceBook page which will be sharing updates from Isle of Man Government and Manx Radio news.
We are experiencing challenging times and do not know how long this will last. We will be remaining positive hope this crisis is also an opportunity for our wonderful communities to work together at their best.
Best wishes and take care,
Stephen , Jane, Murray and Ady
Arbory Parish Commissioners
