About OPAL OPAL is a charity that supports

About OPAL • OPAL is a charity that supports 700 older people in Leeds 16. • We have 90+ regular volunteers – many aged 70 yrs and over • In recent years we have transformed a former pub into the Welcome In Community Centre. • We are a community anchor facilitating community activity. • We have 10 staff (all but 2 are part time) and 5 of the staff are in the vulnerable category because of their health and/or they are carers of vulnerable people.

Welcome In Community Centre • The Community Centre provides a base for most OPAL activities including lunch clubs, dance groups, exercise classes, table tennis, coffee afternoons and much more. • It also provides a base for community activities including a local gardening group, MS Support group, Arabic GCSE classes, Youth Groups, smoking cessation sessions and office space for a care agency and West Yorkshire Police. • The Centre hosts a community café run and managed by OPAL which is a linchpin for community interaction

Covid-19 • OPAL groups suspended and all bookings for room hire are cancelled meaning a loss of income. • Most regular OPAL volunteers needing to self isolate/shield • 6 staff are set up to work remotely from home. • All support is delivered by phone rather than face to face. • Older and vulnerable people contact us in a very distressed state scared, confused and in need of help getting shopping, prescriptions etc. • Wider community are also needing emergency food, prescriptions, personal hygiene products and baby products.

It felt like we were hurtling full speed on a rollercoaster without knowing how many loops or how low the dips were. At times we did not know whethere was a safe end in sight.

OPAL’s Response • Advertised within the local community for volunteers who could help us. • Information letters posted to OPAL members to keep them updated with changes and to provide with useful information (details of shops delivering food etc) • A Phone Buddy scheme was set up so every OPAL member had a regular contact to make sure they were ok, knew how to access support and also had some social contact. • We started our jigsaw, book and puzzle book library with home delivery. • We introduced a shopping buddy scheme. • We designed and distributed 12, 000 leaflets to the whole community to let them know how to get support if they needed it. • Started up a hot meal home delivery 3 days a weeks. (continued)

OPAL’s Response continued. . . • We extended our hours to work Saturdays and Bank Holidays. • Our partnership with Doing Good Leeds gave us over 200 new volunteers, • Leeds libraries loaned us Ipad’s and Alex’s to loan to isolated individuals. To support this project we introduced Tech buddies to give advise and support over the phone. • Local police, local fire officers, ESNW Cluster and vicars from local churches did welfare checks and deliveries for us. • Increased phone support to people who are really struggling – particularly those with pre existing mental health problems.

The Impact • Decline in the emotional and mental wellbeing of many of our members, especially those with memory problems. • The workload (especially for staff based at the Centre) has been at times overwhelming. • People are desperate for human contact and we can’t provide it – this is emotionally hard for staff members and volunteers. • • The influx of goodwill and offers to help are phenomenal. Leeds City Council are very supportive. Funders contacted us offering a grant / information on how to access grants. Funders have been flexible.

Financial Impact • Until recent weeks, we were very concerned for our future as we have lost most of our self generated income, had a significant increase in expenses and couldn’t afford to furlough staff as we needed ‘all hands on deck’ • We have been very fortunate to secure grants and we are now financially stable for this financial year • Funding ends for 3 staff next year. I am not very confident that we will secure funding to continue these posts. • It is unknown factor how the longer term future will look for us financially. We expect we will be more reliant on grants but recognise it will more competitive than ever. • Our strategy for the last 5 years have been to increase income streams to make us financially more robust and this I believe will be critical for our future.

Ailsa Rhodes, CEO Older People’s Action in the Locality (OPAL) Welcome In Community Centre, 55 Bedford Dr, Leeds, LS 16 6 DJ 0113 2619103 ailsa@opal-project. org. uk www. opal-project. org. uk Facebook: Older People’s Action in the Locality Twitter: @OPALLeeds 16