This is part of a series of conversations with member organisations of the Connection Coalition.
Jacky Crawford, CEO of Moorlands Community Charity, talks about trying to work around the challenges they’re facing whilst sustaining their vital support for the local community.
Moorlands Community Charity is a small organisation of 19 staff and 17 volunteers. They run services and activities such as Meals on Wheels, a Community Café, a Youth Club and Cyber Café, Migrant Support Services and a Luncheon Club for the residents of Old Goole, Goole and surrounding villages.
Financial struggles
It’s a difficult time for us. We considered closing the charity in December, but we’re managing to temporarily keep everything going until the end of March thanks to an emergency grant from East Riding of Yorkshire Council. We’ve tried to raise more income, running marketing campaigns with leafleting and articles in the local press, but we’ve had to make the difficult decision to transfer our Meals on Wheels service at the end of the month. It started in 2008, providing vulnerable people with a hot meal, an important friendly connection and a welfare check (we make many referrals to adult social care this way). But the service is too expensive for us to run now with the massive increase in wholesale food, electricity and petrol costs.
Solutions
Although it’s upsetting that we can’t continue Meals on Wheels, we’re handing the service over to a Hull-based CIC (Nancy’s Larder) so vulnerable local people continue to be looked after. They’re better placed to cover the costs of supporting rural areas since they can generate more income providing services to larger numbers of people in Hull. As part of the transfer, I’m mentoring their CEO – passing on what I’ve learned and ensuring they’ve got everything in place, such as safeguarding policies.
Wellbeing
I’m about to attend a weekend retreat for CEOs of local charities run by Two Ridings Community Foundation Trust’s HEY Confident Futures leadership programme. It feels more important than ever for us all to look after our own wellbeing.
Future
In some ways, it feels like a new beginning for us now. We’re mapping out our next 3 years, including whether we might run a domiciliary care service. Our Luncheon Club – which like many of our activities is service-user led – is at capacity, so maybe now we can open it up to more people by providing another Club in Old Goole. We are also looking to set up an intergenerational craft group with the help of a local established craft group called Dabblers. Many services for older people are online now, so perhaps some of the Dabblers can exchange their craft skills for some younger people’s technological knowledge.
Connect
I’d welcome others reaching out to me for a chat about anything, but particularly if we might share ideas and experiences on how to stave off the constant threat of closure. You can contact me at [email protected].
