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A foodbank initiative at Purley Islamic Community Centre, 63 Whytecliffe Road South, Purley.
The foodbank is open every Wednesday from 10am - 11.30am. Call or text 07982 446062 they can also help with basket shopping trips, prescriptions,etc.
Download a flyer here.
Message from Nermin Turley, Faith Liaison Officer:
Places of Worship are part of the series of businesses and premises must remain closed.
Whilst we cannot give direction or permission for a person(s) to enter a religious venue for one or more of the reasons being asked, we must strongly reiterate the government’s advice about the only reason such a place should be open and who is permitted to attend.
These are:
- Funerals, where the congregation is immediate family (with provision for a carer, if required) or a friend - in the case that no family members are attending. A distance of 2 metres is to be maintained between every household group, as per Public Health England guidelines.
- A minister of religion, to go to their place of worship may broadcast an act of worship, whether over the internet or otherwise.
- For the purpose of hosting essential voluntary or public service*, such as food banks, homeless services, and blood donation sessions.
*For public services the guidelines state the cooking facility at religious venues can only remain open and operational in the capacity of a food bank service. This would require food to be prepared by only 1 or 2 persons at the venue and distributed into the Community by volunteers who would NOT enter the venue, but collect the parcels and provide them free of charge to the homeless, elderly and vulnerable who depend on this public service. All persons involved in this must adhere to the social distancing rule of two metres.
Please ensure that, and members of your community all follow the government’s guidelines strictly and ensure that there is no consumption of food anywhere within the religious venue as this is prohibited.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support in the community at this time, it is essential especially for the homeless, elderly and vulnerable who are unable to leave their homes. Please know we are here to support you, if we all follow the instructions and guidelines provided by the Government we will get through this together.
CVA have compiled funding resources including the London Community Response.
To see details please click here.
- Guidance about staying at home and away from others. This is the latest information following the Government’s announcement on 23 March about staying at home as much as possible. It isn’t currently available in alternative formats. However, Mencap has produced an easy read leaflet about staying at home: Guidance on Staying at Home from Mencap
- Stay at home guidance for households with possible coronavirus infection: Available in easy read and Arabic, Bengali, Cantonese, Mandarin, French, Gujarati, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Urdu and Welsh
- Guidance on social distancing – including protecting vulnerable people, Available in Arabic, Bengali, Cantonese, Mandarin, French, Gujarati, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Urdu and Welsh
- Guidance on protecting extremely vulnerable people (shielding) – protecting people that are at greatest risk of becoming seriously ill from Covid-19. Available in easy read.
- Mental health charity MIND has produced information about Coronavirus and wellbeing. Their website also includes links to important information about Covid-19 and staying well.
- Doctors of the World have helpfully translated the core Guidelines about Covid-19 into 32 languages: Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Bulgarian, Czech, Dari, French, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Kurdish Sorani, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Sindhi, Slovak, Spanish, Turkish, Pasto, Polish, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Somali, Tigrinya, Urdu, Vietnamese
- Public Health England resources about hand-washing: Many resources available, including easy read and large print posters and flyers, audio and British Sign Language videos. Braille versions can be ordered.
Yesterday (Tuesday, 24 March), Commissioner Cressida Dick spoke with the media about our policing position following the Prime Minister’s announcement on Monday (23 March).
In her interview, the Commissioner said “I have huge faith in the ability of my officers. The tradition of the British policing is one of talking to people, listening and understanding them but also, if necessary, to escalate and be very firm.
I am sure the vast majority of people, young and old, will comply with the new guidance and my officers will deal with it if they don’t.”
Policing
Our officers have been out around London and have reported that the majority of London’s citizens are following the Government’s advice of staying at home, unless under certain circumstances including:
o shopping for basic necessities, as infrequently as possible and no more than once a day;
o one form of exercise a day - e.g. a run, walk, or cycle - alone or with your household;
o any medical need, to provide care or to help a vulnerable person; and
o travelling to and from work, but only where this absolutely cannot be done from home.
o all non-essential retail, including clothing and electronics stores, and other premises including libraries, communal places within parks (playgrounds), and places of worship (except for funerals) will be required to close;
o all gatherings of more than two people in public, excluding households or work-related are banned; and
o all social events , including weddings, baptisms and other ceremonies, but excluding funerals with immediate family are also banned.
Anyone who is not following the restrictions set out by Government is being spoken with by officers and reminded of the advice. This is the same for non-essential businesses that have remained open. We have needed to speak with some groups where we have seen them gathering in parks and these groups have then dispersed.
We do not, at this stage, have additional powers to enforce these new measures, but these will follow. We will be applying our common sense and experience, taking a sensible and graduated approach to the situation.
Met officers are all used to navigating challenging situations that require good judgement and in many ways this is no different. Whilst the circumstances we are dealing with are unprecedented and fast moving, alongside you we will be working to keep people safe and encourage everyone to play their part in this significant national response to reduce the impact of COVID-19.
Front counters
Although most people prefer to report crime online or by calling the police, we know that some prefer to speak to a member of staff at a front counter at a local police station. For that reason we will be keeping at least one front counter per Basic Command Unit (“BCU”) open at this time, and in some BCUs more remain open.
The Government advice is for the public to stay at home unless for certain specified circumstances and, as such, we would prefer for people to remain in their properties and only visit a front counter if it is absolutely urgent.
Reporting online
Anyone who wants to report a crime in London is asked to do so via the Met police’s website: https://www.met.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/ or by tweeting @MetCC.
Officers are continuing to investigate offences and crimes and carry out their daily duties to keep London safe.
The public should only call 999 in an emergency.
We thank you for your continued support and wish you well. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any further questions.
Kind regards,
Chief Inspector Penny Hands
25.03.2020
Support for the homeless in Croydon
With everything shutting down the following limited services are still running for the homeless in our local areas.
Southcroft Church
276 Mitcham Lane
London
SW16 6NU
Offering takeaway food from 10am till 2pm on Thursdays.
Sutton Nightwatch
35 Manor Road.
Wallington
07741 688619
afulker1@btinternet.com
They do not care which borough they are homeless in but please email them with the name of the client.
Open Monday to Friday 8am till 12 noon and
Monday, Wednesday, & Friday 6pm till 9pm
Please email the clients name so they know who to expect.
The Well in Croydon
Salvation Army Citadel
Booth Road
Croydon
Offering food from Booth Road Salvation Army for the homeless on Mondays at 11am. No referral necessary
Croydon Nightwatch
Queens Gardens
Croydon
still currently offering food Monday to Friday, 9pm till 10pm. No referral necessary.
26.03.2020
Numbers of key organisations offering support in Croydon plus a section on financial help and advice for the self employed.
Download here
This is the message transport for London is putting out - you can download a poster in different languages if you click below.
The recently declared pandemic of COVID-19 has gripped the world in fear and hysteria; however, such a generational event presents a unique opportunity of spiritual introspection for a believer, rather than the emotion, which gives rise to frenzied, irrational conduct.
Download the Mosque Emergency Plan of Action here.
You can download this message by clicking on the link below. Amongst other items it covers Ramadan with advice from the British Council of Muslims.
Download here
