Faiths Covid-19 Support WhatsApp group

Also in 2020 COVID-19- Coronavirus hit the UK.  This pandemic caused a lot of anxiety and fear among people. This was the time that we put the Unity Declaration into practise and showed our common humanity and worked together to support vulnerable members of our society.  The Leicester Council of Faiths collaborated with the Leicester and Leicestershire authorities to support faith communities/leader’s engagement during the early days of the pandemic and beyond.  A Resilience Forum was set up to meet fortnightly and issues discussed and communicated included:

  • infection control
  • support for the vulnerable
  • facilities of faith centres and their activities
  • mapping the funeral practises and funeral scenario planning that was undertaken to support the authorities in dealing with COVID-19 deaths
  • availability of Registration services and Cemeteries and Crematoria
  • Impact on young people
  • Crisis Support for people
  • Mental Health concerns
  • Domestic Violence increase
  • Local Authority Funding for COVID-19
  • Volunteering
  • End of Life Care
  • Why BAME communities are dying disproportionately more than the rest of the population
  • Good examples of how places of worship are helping with food delivery and food bank and essential services, for all members of the community irrespective of faith
  • Examples of how places of worship are providing limited streaming service for worship in line with guidance

In order to communicate this vital and invariably time dependant information, and continually changing government guidance to the communities as quickly and as directly as possible, the Leicester Council of Faiths setup a WhatsApp group of nearly 50 faith representatives or leaders of faith centres/places of worship, in Leicester and Leicestershire, to ensure they were and still are, kept up to date with the most recent changes to the government guidance.  We continue to use this avenue to keep everyone updated on what is happening in and around Leicester/Leicestershire, as discussed at the Resilience forum meetings, as well as feeding back any areas of worry or concern raised from the group.  We have attended the Resilience Forum meetings every fortnight since March and share notes from these meetings with the whatsapp group.

If you or your organisation, would like to be added to the Faiths Covid-19 Support WhatsApp group, please contact us