Life is far from normal at the moment.
Although the COVID-19 outbreak has brought devastation to millions of peoples lives, we’ve also been moved & inspired by the incredible acts of generosity and kindness seen around the world.
Take for example Captain Tom Moore, who has raised more than £28 million for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden for his 100th birthday. Closer to home, over 1,600 people have offered their time by signing up to be a volunteer to help those most in need. It’s often during great tragedies we see the best of humanity, and we’ve definitely seen that across Liverpool City Region.
Staying at home is the new normal
Stay Home. Protect the NHS. Save Lives. It’s the most important message and one we should all be following right now. With that in mind, we’ve had to change the way we work here at Marketing Liverpool – it’s no longer right to be promoting tourism by encouraging people to come visit us. Instead, our team are working on a whole load of different projects behind the scenes, and we couldn’t be more proud of them.
Volunteer Matching
We mentioned 1,600 people had signed up to Liverpool City Council’s call out for volunteers. To get those volunteers matched with a suitable resident is no easy task, and behind the scenes a number of people have been working to ensure the volunteers are matched up to the most suitable residents. Helping out with this huge task is some of our team – Stefan, Emma, Suzanne and Peter.
The process involves calling up our vulnerable residents and finding out their situation and requirements, with the aim of them matching them with a suitable volunteer. The residents we have spoken to are blown away by the amount of support people are prepared to give – it really is heartening to hear.
Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, recently wrote to our volunteer army, thanking them for their support. You can read the letter here.
Redeployment
The Marketing Liverpool team is made up of people from all sorts of different backgrounds, with lots of various skillsets. Some of us have seen our workload increase slightly, whilst others have seen things slow down. All prepared to play our part, and being part of Liverpool City Council, our team have been encouraged to help out in different departments where possible.
One example of this is our very own Carrie who has been redeployed into the Bereavement Service. As we’re sure you can imagine, this is a service that is facing unprecedented demand at the moment. Carrie is supporting the Head of Bereavement Services, who has responsibility for the city’s cemeteries, crematoriums and mortuaries, by providing admin and secretary support. The service is currently operating 24/7 and following new Government guidelines on COVID-19, making their work a lot busier than usual.
Community Volunteering
Outside of our day jobs, the team are volunteering in a number of ways. From calling elderly people to carrying out food shops for the vulnerable, the list is endless! John, our Finance Assistant, is currently working with LCVS to collect shopping for those who can’t leave the house and making phone calls to keep their spirits up.
We couldn’t be prouder of our team for lending a helping hand.
Everyone at Marketing Liverpool would like to say a huge THANK YOU to all of our carers and key workers – you are the true heroes.