As a business, you may be looking for ways to support your community during lockdown. There are a few different ways that you can support your local area and surrounding businesses, and also ways that your staff and employees can get involved. Here’s 5 ways for you to support your community during COVID-19.
1. Make a donation
Although money may be a little tight right now, one of the easiest ways that you can support your community is making a donation. Check out local charities and community groups to find out the areas of your community that need the most financial support at the moment; opting for these over larger, national organisations will help get your donation to the people within your community that will benefit from it the most. If you don’t have the money, but do have some time, it might be that you can get involved with volunteer run projects and organisations supporting those in need during lockdown.
2. Give blood
The NHS has reported that, ‘blood has stayed above the six day target since March...As the pandemic peaked in early April there were 11 days of blood available’. This huge response illustrates how vital the public understand the NHS to be during a time of crisis; however, this could change as people move out of furlough, the amount of surgeries increase and the need for blood goes up once more. Considering giving blood is a really simple way you can help the NHS to support your community. The NHS has introduced extra safety measures to keep their donors safe during the pandemic. You can register to be a donor online, or through the app.
3. Reach out
One of the best ways for your business and your staff to support your community is to reach out and help those in need. During the pandemic, a number of organisations and groups sprung up in order to help those within their community who are the most vulnerable and at risk. These groups often offer to pick up groceries, deliver urgent supplies such as medication, as well as offer phone calls to those who are self-isolating and potentially don’t have internet access with which to video call family and friends. To find your local group, you can use the map function on www.covidmutualaid.org/localgroups. If you’d like to volunteer with the Red Cross, you can sign up to be a reserve at reserves.redcross.org.uk.
4. Support local businesses
Many small-to-medium sized businesses are struggling during lockdown; just having to operate in a new way by introducing social distancing may be more difficult to implement for smaller companies. From a financial perspective, even though there are different funding options available for businesses, many are still struggling to make ends meet. Opting to make purchases from local businesses is a great way of supporting your community. It makes a huge difference for small business owners; just by purchasing services and products locally you’re ensuring that the business can survive. Get to know the kinds of businesses in your local area, and you might find more opportunities to help each other.
5. Stay informed
The most important thing that your business can do to support your community during COVID-19 is ensure that you and your staff are kept well informed. This means keeping up to date with government guidelines, and having regular check ins and meetings with your staff to ensure that they are receiving accurate knowledge, even if you’re not all working from the office at the moment. There are a number of different ways that you can support staff and make working safe for them during this time. Making sure that you and your staff stay informed is an easy way to keep people healthy - and in doing so, you keep your community as safe as possible.
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