Local people and community groups are working hard to support their neighbours and the wider population during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

To streamline their approach and ensure community help is delivered safely during the pandemic, the Council’s Connected Communities teams are set to launch a series of community hubs from next week.

Opening on Tuesday 24 March, the community hubs will operate in each of the six localities – North Coast & Cumbrae, Garnock Valley, Irvine, Kilwinning, Three Towns and Arran.

Their purpose is to be a local point of contact for community need arising from COVID-19, responding with advice, signposting, referral and tasking of local volunteers.

The hubs will not be open for the public to visit but will be a base for a small coordination team to operate from. 

This approach will work alongside specific community initiatives already underway.

Councillor Louise McPhater, Cabinet Member for Communities, said: “Our locality leads have now made contact with local resilience partners which include community associations, community councils and community responders to help expand our volunteering network during these unprecedented times.

“The opening of the six locality hubs will allow us to welcome local volunteers to join our locality hub taskforce where we can work together to support people in the community who need it most.

“So whether you are a driver who can assist with drop off runs and food parcels or someone looking to help run errands such as collecting prescriptions, doing doorstep drops or helping with dog walking or daily check in phone calls, our locality hubs want to hear from you via the contact details below.

“And, if you are part of an established community group already, please let your locality hub know what you are doing to help others and tell us what support your group needs or any local issues you identify but can’t tackle without our help.”

If you are not currently volunteering yet and want to get involved, please complete and submit the application form: https://tinyurl.com/v6rkjwnand we will be in touch to advise the next steps.

If you are currently already coordinating your own community volunteering, the hubs don’t want to do anything to stop this, however it is important that your volunteering efforts are delivered safely. With this in mind, the Connected Communities team have created a guide to help keep volunteers and those receiving support safe, read more here

None of the volunteers will be authorised or asked to go into houses. They will do ‘doorstep drops’ only and the public should be alert and remember to check for genuine callers as all approved locality hub volunteers will be issued with an ID badge before going out into the community.

Councillor McPhater added: “On behalf of the Connected Communities Team, I would like to thank everyone involved in volunteering for their help and support at a time of great need as we work hard to make the lives of others safer and better.”

To get involved, you can email communityplanning@north-ayrshire.gov.uk or call your locality community support hub using the contact numbers below

North Coast

07907876444

01475 673309