Today (Friday 16th October) marks six months service for the Stone Helpline as it passes its 500th request for help.
Created as a joint initiative between Stone Town Council and community news website A Little Bit of Stone, the Helpline started as an idea from town councillors Rob Kenney and Jill Hood to be able to get help those isolating due to Covid-19 restrictions.
The funding for the telephone call centre, ID badge printer as well as the production of thousands of leaflets, that were delivered through each door in Stone by volunteers, was facilitated by Stone Town Council. A Little Bit of Stone handled the creation of the volunteer network, the systems and processes to make the helpline work and also coordinated the leaflet distribution across Stone.
The Stone Helpline is run and managed entirely by volunteers, a mixture of people carrying out the front-line tasks and a dedicated team of call handlers and a volunteer coordinator who answer the incoming calls and match requests to volunteers. The video below shows some of the comments that helpline callers have made.
Open 7 days a week, between 8am and 6pm on 0333 230 0112, Stone Helpline provides support and services such as shopping, prescription collection, transport to medical appointments and wellbeing calls. More information can be found at StoneHelpline.co.uk and there’s a form on the website if people wish to sign up to volunteer.
Stone Town Councillor Rob Kenney said: “The easy bit was for Stone Town Council to instigate, initially fund and help set up the helpline. The hard work has been done by A Little Bit of Stone and the volunteers that have helped run the helpline. They have carried out anything that has been asked of them and provided advice where needed. In these uncertain times it is essentially that the helpline continues to come to the aid of the local residents”
The Stone Helpline and the efforts of all involved were recently recognised by the Queens Lord-Lieutenant for Staffordshire for the service it had provided to the community through the Covid-19 pandemic.
Jon Cook from A Little Bit of Stone added: “We’re pleased to have been involved in a service that’s been vital to the local community. From hearing stories of people cut off from their family and friends, unable to get out to the shops to people who have lost a loved one to Covid-19 and just want to chat to someone regularly. To date we’ve had over 200 volunteers register to carry out the volunteer tasks on the helpline, an incredible number and humbling to see what a great community we have in our town.
