<\/p>\n
A volunteer programme on the Isle of Thanet have been supporting hundreds of vulnerable people thanks to the partnership between Kent Business School and Santander Universities.<\/p>\n
Ageless Thanet is part of the Social Enterprise Kent CIC which received a \u00a3500 grant to support its work from Santander Universities via KBS.<\/p>\n
During this period, the Ageless Thanet volunteering team have worked closely with partners to support a Thanet and East Kent wide initiative, led by Social Enterprise Kent\u2019s social prescribing service, Connect Well East Kent.<\/p>\n
In Thanet alone 1478 calls were made and received from people seeking advice, a total of 996 food and prescription deliveries.<\/p>\n
The service has been extremely valuable for those who are most at risk of loneliness and isolation during the Covid-19 crisis.<\/p>\n
On behalf of Ageless Thanet, Heather Biddles said: \u201cWe would like to thank Kent Business School and Santander Universities for their support of our Ageless Thanet volunteering programme during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrior to lockdown we established our office number as a helpline, encouraging anyone who was worried to give us a call. Even if we were not able to directly help them, we knew that we would be able to signpost them to other local organisations who could.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnsurprisingly we received a lot of phone calls from people who were concerned that as they were shielding, they would not be able to do their food shopping or collect their prescriptions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other organisations to benefit from the Santander Universities funding included the Ambrette restaurant which supplied hot food to the homeless via Canterbury-based charity, Porchlight and Kent Fresh Doorstep Delivery which delivered fresh fruit and veg to the elderly in care homes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"