‘We’re all humans and had to help each other’ - how mutual aid groups have changed since March

A lot of the groups are still working on other projects, or ready to start back up again should they be needed.

Sonja, one of the initial founders of Horsted Helpers who worked with nine volunteers, said how the ‘amazing’ village now has a network of volunteers that spans across the generations.

She said: ”The need for the group then almost evaporated overnight when the lockdown eased, but recently we’ve been looking into how to help those who have lost income this year, like families who are reliant on jobs like cleaning, babysitting and other part time and less secure work.

“We’re collecting donations for food banks, including nice things and toys so families can have presents for kids, and we’re very lucky because there are a lot of groups and community-organised projects.

“Horsted Helpers has brought a much broader group of the village into that helping community.

“The network is set up so it’s easy to engage the volunteer network in a way that we couldn’t before.

“This group is across the village, from young mums to teenagers to those who are older and retired who were involved in the early days.”

Kieran James, who organised Burgess Hill Helper Army, said how the group quickly realised they needed a buddy service for people who were lonely and vulnerable.

With his DBS-checked team, they received calls all day long across two phone lines.

He said: “If someone sounded like they could use a phone call once a week we passed them on to the team, but we mentioned it to everyone.

“Sometimes it was for an hour, sometimes it was longer, and some of the friendships made may still be continued now.”

He praised Burgess Hill Town Council for its help, as well as Mid Sussex Voluntary Action and Burgess Hill Community Radio who he said were ‘really helpful’.

Kieran said: “Mid Sussex Roundtable secured us £200 for petrol early on during lockdown to do deliveries.

“If it wasn’t for other groups helping we wouldn’t have been able to do as much.

“The community stepped forward to help us so we could help them.

“I went from being a single dad and not knowing a lot of people to now being able to help the community more.

“I could not give enough thanks to every single person that was involved in the group, to the businesses and companies that put forward supplies for food banks and nursing homes, schools who sent out lunches, radio who put out announcements and supported us as well as they did, Roundtable who helped us financially, the food bank.

Jo Lee, from Haywards Heath, praised the community for its help as well.

She said: “There was so much trust involved in the people asking for help and we had to put a lot of faith in the community but we didn’t have a single complaint about the volunteers through more than 1,600 requests and 2,500 phone calls.

“So many people are willing to help and it just restores your faith in humanity and can make such a big difference to someone, especially people who are living on their own.

“Even now people are still offering to help.

“People don’t want to sit around idle all day, they want to feel like they’re doing something.

“My mother-in-law will be 84 this year and has sewn since she was younger, so she started making face masks and leaving them in the porch for her family.

“People would ask if she wanted any money for them and she would say no, or if they really wanted to give something then to give a charity donation.

“People are so selfless and just wanted to help each other through this.

“Have faith in the people around you. All the people I’ve dealt with in Haywards Heath have been absolutely fantastic.

“They just couldn’t have done more if they tried.”