Adapting to the pandemic – Largo Communities Together
05/23/2021
Learn how Largo Communities Together have stepped up to the challenges brought on by the pandemic, to help their vulnerable and isolated community. And, see how we supported them.
About Largo Communities Together
Largo Communities Together is a registered charity and a community membership organisation in the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. It covers a community of around 3,000 people living in villages adjacent to Largo Bay. It’s a rural community, spread across a number of villages, in a beautiful part of the country.
The charity was launched in 2019 with the purpose of enabling the people of the area ‘to enhance community life by supporting and developing sustainable initiatives, and by connecting community groups and individuals.’
Zurich has been supporting Largo Communities Together since they launched, and as their needs changed in 2020.
When the pandemic started, Largo Communities Together was needed more than ever and came together with other local groups to quickly form LACRT (Largo Area Coronavirus Response Team) to deliver services and support their community.
We spoke to Andrew Morrison, Emily Macdonald, Nora Conlin, Peter Aitken and Stuart McLaren, from Largo Communities Together, about their pandemic experience.
Watch Largo’s pandemic story and read on for more detail.
Supporting the community
Food
“As a community with remote outlying areas and many socially isolated people, when the pandemic struck, residents, in particular elderly and vulnerable ones, were at great risk of serious malnutrition and isolation. There is a great community spirit here, everybody likes to help each other. So, we worked together to look after each other.”
“The supply of food was the most worrying thing. We set up a shopping delivery service. We had lots of volunteers come together to help out with this. Local shops took orders from residents over the telephone and goods were delivered to their homes. This was easier for older residents who were not online, and for residents who could not get an online shopping time booked.”
“LACRT received requests for shopping delivery via our 0800 number. We directed people’s requests to local coordinators who liaised with our local shops and volunteer delivery drivers. Our local stores and farm shop also began their own delivery services, with ourselves as a safety net”.
Communication
“We set up new ways for people to keep in contact with each other. Loneliness is already a problem here; with the lockdown we were worried people would become even more lonely. We set up a helpline so that anyone in need, day or night, could connect with someone who could help. We put newsletters through the doors of every household, so people knew about it. A team of volunteer call handlers responded to those who needed help getting food, shopping or medicine. We even helped one young woman by collecting the prescribed medicine for her dog from a local vet. We set up a friends and neighbours befriending service for some of the older adults in our community to help them to stay connected. This service has been very popular and will remain in place in the future; we are really proud of this.”
Collaboration
“At the start of the pandemic, Largo Communities Together came together with the Largo Area Community Council and Largo Parish Church. For the first time these three key community organisations have been working together, and by combining our skills and contacts we have been thrilled by the number of people we have been able to reach and the difference we have been able to make. This collaboration will continue going forwards.”
“LACRT has also worked with Happy Beaches to keep our environment clean, supported two local food banks, and had regular communication with local councillors.”
Education
“We provided the younger children at school with laptops and funded a license to assist literacy learning online. We also funded textbooks and art materials for older children, so they could get on with their schoolwork while the schools were closed. There’s adequate internet access locally, but families didn’t necessarily have enough devices to provide for all their children, especially when both parents were also working from home.
The future of Largo Communities Together
“The residents of Largo came together to support each other. We are optimistic about the future of Largo, particularly as the three main community organisations are now working together in a response team to protect our community during any future emergency.”
Zurich support to provide public liability cover
“We needed a bespoke insurance package from an insurer who understood our needs. As a rural community spread across a number of villages, our services involve direct interaction with the public. We needed liability cover to keep the public safe and our volunteers safe. Zurich understood what we needed. They took the time to listen and to understand the activities we do, and we had our own dedicated contact who we could speak to – not someone in a call centre.”
See how another of our not-for-profit customers, Revoluton Arts CIC, adapted to the pandemic.
Click here for more information about our charity and not-for-profit insurance.
