Community helpline to match vulnerable customers with convenience store deliveries in coronavirus outbreak

A national free helpline in Scotland is being launched as part of a community project involving around 500 convenience stores to help with shopping deliveries and to tackle loneliness.

MSP Anas Sarwar is leading the campaign.

Viral Kindness Scotland, led by Glasgow MSP Anas Sarwar, will see a number of organisations across Scotland have come together to build a unique community-led response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Vulnerable individuals in Scotland can contact the free helpline run by contact centre Go-Centric if they need help with food deliveries or simply want someone to talk to because they feel lonely and isolated.

Individuals and businesses can also contact the helpline to pass on the details of a vulnerable person, or to volunteer to help.

Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow and President of the Sarwar Foundation, said:

“The coronavirus outbreak has produced a community spirit across Scotland to help those most in need. Thank you to everyone working on the frontline and all those who are volunteering.

“By pulling together and by mobilising our communities, we can all look out for our families, our friends and our neighbours. Initiatives are springing up organically in communities across the country, which is heart-warming at this worrying time.

“This unique community-led project is designed to help co-ordinate the community response, involving a number of organisations which have come together to provide their services for free, bringing together volunteers, small convenience stores, and a national call centre.

“I hope it will go some way to assisting with the national response to this crisis, ensuring that we spread kindness to those most in need.”

The helpline number is: 0800 054 2282.