Volunteers bringing lockdown care packages to homes across West Belfast districts have told how one of their greatest challenges is managing the large numbers of people offering to help.

Speaking at the Sally Gardens Community Centre in the Poleglass area of the city, one of the many squads maintaining an almost constant rota of packing and delivering bags of groceries and essentials told Belfast Live how a call to action left them facing a welcome dilemma.

Stephen Magennis, a local councillor, said: “The first day we started all this, 35 people turned up at the door asking how they could help. I was scratching my head trying to think what to do with them all since with social distancing you couldn’t have everyone in the community centre at once.

“But we quickly developed a rota system and there’s only ever six of us in the place at a time. The bags are left at the door and the ones doing the deliveries come and get them without coming in so it all works really well. But it’s been amazing to see so many people just willing to drop everything and come and offer to help the minute we asked.

“Now we’re up and running, I’d say if I put a call out on Facebook there’d be a hundred people here in an hour. That’s the sort of people. They just want to do what they can.”

Brendan McAteer, from the Colin Neighbourhood Partnership, said the willingness of people to give what they can has been striking.

He added: “This community will always give what it can. People might not always have a lot, but they always give a little. There’s people volunteering who have maybe been furloughed, but there’s also ones who are doing a 9 to 5 job then coming over to help do what ever they can.”

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But the large numbers willing to volunteer are being put to effective use thanks to a community infrastructure that has been in place for years, Stephen Magennis says.

Volunteers at Sally Gardens

Exisiting community groups including Colin Safer Neighbourhood Project and the Conservation Volunteers as well as long running schemes like Good Morning Colin have all fed into efforts to distribute around 200 packages a week to people in the Poleglass, Twinbrook and Dunmurry areas.

The Community Centre is a constant buzz, with packages being sent to addresses like Laurelbank, Brians Well, Foxes Glen and Woodside.

Cllr Magennis added: “There’s the Good Morning Colin scheme which has been on the go since the late 90s which is about ringing pensioners in the morning just to say hello and see how they are. It’s about the contact, reassuring people.

"Things like that have helped us get a database of who might need help so we know we’re going to the right houses.

“You’d also have people getting in touch to say such and such up the street need a little help. Sometimes you’ll land at a door and the person in the house will say ‘thanks, I really appreciate it, but I’ve plenty of family around me and I don’t really need it’.

"If that happens, well you just find somewhere else to send it. Others take it and they are so grateful that someone has thought of them. A lot of people, though, are obviously very private, and you have to respect that and it’s kept quiet.”

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As well as older vulnerable residents, some of those receiving packages are people who have been furloughed.

Brendan McAteer said: “There’s people for who losing 20% of their wages is the difference between eating or not.

"We’ve sent out emergency packs to people very quickly, to young families with nappies and that after someone’s just been told they’re being furloughed. It can very quickly leave people in a bad place to have their pay cut by 20%.”

Packages from Sally Gardens being delivered

Martin Connolly, from Sally Gardens Community Centre, said the “big fear” is that the pandemic will not end shortly and everything will return to normality.

He said the “concern is the Tories will cut all round them” and that essential services will suffer including councilling for mental health issues.

The team at the Community Centre, however, said they are confident the “structures are in place” for a second wave if it comes.

Gerry McConville, Director of Falls Community Council, said the work at Sally Gardens as well as other centres in the west of the city has “highlighted the level of volunteering” in the area.

He added: “As this is volunteer week we are keen to highlight the level of volunteering in West Belfast at present.

"As Covid has had a devastating impact on the area, the response from the community has been phenomenal. Through Communities in Transition, FCC and its partners Sally Gardens, Roden Street Regeneration Group and Upper Springfield Development Trust have recruited over 50 volunteers who are out on a daily basis helping those most vulnerable in our community to stay safe.

Volunteers load up for a delivery run

“The Neighbourhood Renewal partnerships have also recruited volunteers to deliver essential supplies to those most in need and a host of other organisations are doing likewise.

"This shows the true spirit of the community in West Belfast where hundreds of volunteers of all ages have responded to making this area a great place to live.”