these are your stories
These are the stories of how you shopped for your neighbours, dropped off supplies to your friends who were shielding, hosted a zoom group for those you knew needed regular outreach, organised a mutual support network and offered hope and help to your communities.
Read the stories of others like you in Scotland who helped!
These stories inform a national research project. These are stories of local action across Scotland, whether that’s food drop-offs, support for neighbours, calls to older residents and more. This research will help shine a light on how local communities play a critical role in our future and how we can build forward better, creating a fairer Scotland for us all.
online community centre
Sam from Edinburgh Coronavirus Support shares their story on what they did, and what we can learn from it.
volunteering in Angus
Sophie from Angus shares how she volunteered for Social Supermarket Angus during the pandemic, and how she’d like to see Scotland support local communities going forward.
weel kent faces in Ayshire
Colin, ACES development worker, shares his experience of helping during the pandemic. Delivering food and essential supplies to folk, he tells us how important supporting our citizens is, now and going forward.
WhatsApp groups strengthening community
Lindsay, from Aberdeen, tells us about how before they set up the group, she only knew a few of her neighbours. The chat group grew quickly and all the neighbours are much closer.
puzzle challenge to help friends and families
Gareth, an A&E Consultant from Aberdeen, shares how he organised an orienteering puzzle hunt with his children for his community during the pandemic, and shares “communities came together”
bakes from a balcony
Emily, from Aberdeen, shares her videos on how she helped during the pandemic. As she was shielding and furloughed, Emily decided to fundraise for the Archie Foundation through a bake sale with a difference! Delivered by lowering a rope from her balcony she raised over £3000 for the charity.
young people are strong, capable and will create change
Ethan from Govan shares his experience of supporting youth action in his community through food support and socially distanced football. He tells us “young people are strong, capable and we will create change”
community action to support asylum seekers and refugees
Adnan shares his experiences of helping during the pandemic, and why we should focus on the mental health of our asylum seeking communities going forward.
Joe’s half marathon
Joe, aged 12, ran a half marathon in his back garden to raise funds for the NHS in Aberdeen during the pandemic. Here, he shares his video about what he did, why and what we can learn going forward.
encouraging connection and conversation in the LGBTQ community
Jenna tells us about starting a project and campaign — a place and a language for the LGBTQ community to come together online — as a way to bring a voice to and connect this community.
lockdown leads to library launch
Christina started the lockdown library in her neighbourhood in Leith.
distributing shopping, medicines and hot meals in the Scottish Borders
This is Jamie’s story of volunteering — distributing shopping, medicines and hot meals in the Scottish Borders — during Covid19.
helping in Milton
Linda from Love Milton shares why she got involved to help and what she did, sharing “everybody who could help, did”
from crisis to community
For the first time people forgot their labels ..Catholic , Protestant , Muslim, English, Scottish , Pakistani etc and became one multi-cultural community to support each other during the fight to reduce the transmission of the Coronavirus.
communities have huge resources, but need support
Parish Minister Christopher Rowe from Milton shares a video of how he helped during the pandemic, and what Scotland can learn going forward.
school uniforms in Glasgow
Leanne from Glasgow City Parents Group tells us how she organised uniform recycling during the pandemic, and the support they are looking for going forward.
collective responsibility and empowering communities: Darkwood Crew
Darkwood Crew in Ferguslie Park supported their community during COVID-19; Terry tells us “our communities hold the solutions to many of our larger global problems including the pandemic, climate change and collective well being. Collective responsibility and empowering communities is vital to any suggested well being recovery.”
a lockdown stitch journal: comfort in creativity
Learn about Karen’s lockdown journal and how she stitched creativity into her life during COVID-19.
and the award goes to…
Adil and Asif on winning the ‘Best Post Office in Scotland’
