We’d like to take this opportunity to wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR! We hope that you find time to relax and enjoy the festive period, and that the new year brings plenty of happiness to you and your loved ones.

We would also like to share some recent news and plans for 2021. We are in the process of extending our services to cater to more complex needs of beneficiaries as well as additional services to support all the wonderful volunteers and organisations who provide support in the community.

We’ve recently received funding from The National Lottery and the Community Foundation Northern Ireland. Our project is supporting both individuals and organisations, particularly those affected by #COVID19. We’re extending our matching service to cover a wider range of support for local communities including:

• Elderly
• Isolated
• Physical health
• Mental health
• Financial difficulties
• Employability
• Technology
• Education
• Family/parenting
• Children/young people
• Care-providers
• Personal safety issues
• Marginalised/minorities
• Homeless/living in poverty

In addition to matching support requests to community volunteers, we are now:

• Collaborating with an increasing number of regional food banks, charities, VCSE organisations and local businesses

• Launching a schedule of online events and resources including well-being, networking and training

• Matching volunteers, resources and donations with other VCSE organisations to increase capacity and capabilities

Since we set up COVID-19 Community Support as a voluntary project in March, we have received 900+ offers, 350+ requests and an estimated 4,500+ people have benefitted from the support and donations matched.

We wouldn’t have been in a position to connect the offers and requests without the kindness of those who came forward to offer their time, skills and donations.

The feedback from beneficiaries across Northern Ireland has been heartwarming and reminds us daily why we continue to offer our support matching service.

We’re always keen to help in any way we can so if you’d like to get involved or you would like to request some support, you are very welcome to register  here.

More news below

Thanks so much,

Sarah, Danielle & the team 

Member in focus For the last 19 weeks we’ve been running “The Challenges and Opportunities of 2020” interviews. It has been great to get to know our members better via our blog. Check out our blog

Free online events We’ve launched a series of online events – starting with wellbeing with plans to add arts, entertainment, training and more. Events are offered FOC by our members for our network. Find out more

Training resources We’ve also launched a feature for training resources such as courses and workshops. Again, the foundation for this is around resources offered by our members for our network. Find out more

Safeguarding We’ve been undertaking safeguarding training to raise awareness of the need to safeguard and protect adults at risk. To increase knowledge, understanding and improve our procedures. Find out more

Policies and Terms We’ve taken time to update all of our policies including our Terms and Conditions, Privacy, Safeguarding, Confidentiality, Health & Safety and Good Practice for Volunteering. Find out more

TNL & CFNI Funding  Our project, Community Network NI, has recently received funding from The National Lottery “Awards for All’ Community Fund and The Community Foundation NI. Find out more

Christmas Draw  We would like to say thanks for your continued support and for being part of Community Network NI. We’re entering all members to a Christmas draw on Wednesday 23rd December. Join Community Network NI

Appeals for support  We’ve recently been supporting a range of appeals including Cool FM’s Mission Christmas, Antrim Hub’s call for volunteers, a virtual concert, local food banks and many more. Find out more