After a strange week and a lot of work behind the scenes, we have some important announcements to make about how your local church will be helping our communities here during the Coronavirus Outbreak.

We have been working around the clock to put a plan together in order to provide practical, pastoral and spiritual support during these unprecedented times.

We can now announce that from Monday 23rd March, we will be providing a Church Assistance Request in an Emergency (or CARE) for short. This service will provide 5 important services:

Firstly, the service will provide emergency food and non-food essentials packages to those who are in isolation, those who are elderly or frail, and those who are struggling financially. Those who need help will be able to either submit a request online via our website, or alternatively telephone us to make a request, and where possible, we will deliver food and essential items packages to them, free of charge.

Secondly, we will offer a service to pick up a “Click and Collect” food shop for anyone who requests it. This way, people will be able to do a food shop for themselves or on behalf of another and pay for it directly to the supermarket. We are concerned that there are lots of scams out there, and so we want people to feel safe knowing that when they use our service, the volunteers are working under a registered charitable organisation and that there will be no transactions taking place between us and those who wish to use our service.

Thirdly, we will be offering a prescription collection service.

Fourthly we will be providing a listening ear and the offer of a chat to those who are isolated at home. We are all aware that we may be isolated for a significant period of time, and we already have people waiting to get in touch with people to check on them. We hope that this will not only help those who are lonely, but will also put the minds of relatives at ease knowing that someone is checking on their loved ones to ensure they are OK and safe.

And as for the fifth service, I and my colleagues will continue to provide our own services of pastoral care to any who wish.

I would like to thank everyone who has signed up to volunteer already – we have over 40 people who are waiting to get started with volunteering with us.

Already we have put policies in place ready to start this vital work, and St. Thomas’ Church in Trethomas is being turned into a food distribution hub, with equipment and storage being installed this morning.

We are nearly ready to start, and so we are inviting others to come and join us in this vital work. We are also asking people who feel able to consider donating towards this work as we will need to cover essential bills in order to provide these services. Details on how to donate are below, but one quick and easy way is to text donate by texting from your mobile phone the word CORONAVIRUS and the amount to 700 85.

Finally, a Church we are continuing to provide discussion groups and worship services online. All are welcome to join these events, and information on how to do that can be found on our church website. Details can be found in the video description. Please be assured of my continued prayers for our villages and communities.

These times are concerning, and many people are living in fear. However, I draw great strength from my faith and the words of Jesus who invites us to come to him if we are weary and carrying heavy burdens.

May you know God’s peace at this time, and may you be assured of the support and love of your local church.

Take care, God bless.

Rev. Dean – Rector & Vicar

TO FIND OUT MORE, GET HELP, OR VOLUNTEER: Head over to https://bmmr.church/coronavirus

TO DONATE VIA TEXT: Simply text the word CORONAVIRUS and your amount to 70085. (For example CORONAVIRUS 5 to donate £5)

TO DONATE SECURELY ONLINE: Click here.