By CPO deliver latest activity packs to local families in need during Covid-19 pandemic
Grimsby organisation CPO has delivered its latest activity packs to local families in need. It’s set to be the second-to-last of the activity packs since the deliveries began at the start of the first lockdown.
The organisation, which offers community social support work to families and young people, applied for a booster grant from Children In Need to allow them to work differently during lockdown.
They then began putting activity packs together to deliver to local households during the Covid-19 pandemic, with 47 children on the project. Until now, they have delivered nine activity packs to each child.
Stephen Ryder, Managing Director of CPO, said: “All 47 children got activity packs through March and April and we took everyone an Easter Egg. As we got into the summer, we realised we needed to make sure if children were stuck inside and didn’t have much to do, bouncing off the walls with large numbers of people in the same house, so we tried to make the activities inclusive for the whole families, so we started doing puzzles so all the family could get involved.
“We delivered 3D models so adults could assist in creating them and we set weekly challenges. Sometimes it was things like drawing another member of your family, putting a collage of family pictures and memories together, and also how the children could help at home this week. We got some really good feedback from that,” Stephen added.
The organisation has offered local people a range of other support throughout the pandemic, using other funding to deliver shopping and prescriptions to those who were isolating, and offering mental health support to those who need it.
Stephen continued: “The welfare packs had two impacts for me – one was that children and families were getting to do things when life had come to a standstill, and the other was delivering the packs. You were able to have that garden gate conversation with people to see if we could help or support them in any way and see how they were.
“Because of this additional work during lockdown we got some funding from DCMS (Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport) to make the activity packs more fancy. Whether it’s a residential trip or a welfare pack, its completely free to local families and children because we’re trying to help those people who need our help the most.”
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