Doing A Bit

Donate to Doing a bit on JustGiving page

Project "Doing a Bit": Preparing and delivering ready meals for NHS Staff, Community Carers and the vulnerable.

The OWA committee working with resident chef Richard Brown have organised a project called Doing a Bit to help provide meals for

Doctors, Nurses and Staff on the Night Shift on the Covid 19 Wards at Epsom Hospital. They are currently staying in a hotel where there are no self-catering facilities, and they really need a supplier of nutritional hot meals while they are doing their 12-hour shifts.
Cairn House In Kingston, which is a 24 hour supported accommodation project which aims to provide a safe environment for adults with multiple support needs to enable them to move towards independence.

A food preparation facility has been set up at the OWA to prepare ready meals. We also have a commitment from a neighbourhood group from Kingston, The Revellers, who have a rota in place for the next 2 weeks to make cakes and cookies, in addition to the meals we are sending out.

The project has been fortunate to get assistance from the Save The Food Club which has been very busy collecting surplus food from Aldi and Tesco to use as ingredients in the meals as well as The Dons Local Action Group who have set up donating stations outside major supermarkets in Merton and Kingston who are also supplying ingredients for the meals.

In addition the OWA's regular suppliers, CF & MF Steer and Hill Park Express, both in Surbiton, have been fantastic in their support for this endeavour.

The project has already expanded to deliver meals to St George's Hospital in Tooting and St Helier Hospital in Sutton - the staff are all working long shifts and these meals may be the only hot food they have all day.

We are committed to be in place for the next 4 weeks (over 4000 meals based on current forecasts), but we will take on new requests and we will stay open as long as there is a need.

In addition to the amazing help above, we have also received donations from Donhead School and the Friends of Donhead and a justgiving page has been set up - please give generously to this not for profit project to enable us to keep providing meals to those on the front line.

You can also help out by signing up to bake cakes and cookies.

OWA Supporting Merton and Kingston with the Dons Local Action Group

The Dons Local Action Group has been set up by AFC Wimbledon fans working closely with the AFC Wimbledon Foundation to help individuals and families across Merton during the current health crisis.

They need volunteers for Food Collection points in Merton and Kingston Boroughs as well as drivers and people to work at the Kingsmeadow food hub. People are being asked to do 3 hour slots.

If you can help then please contact the OWA Committee's Dave Doran on 07866 628198.

You can donate online to the Dons Local Action Group on their justgiving page.

Look out for each other & share these details with friends, family, neighbours & online communities.

If you need help from the Dons Local Action Group:

Call 020 3301 4511 or email dla@afcwimbledonfoundation.org.uk

Project Doing a Bit Updates

If you can help with Doing a bit:

Please phone Greg on 07971 165990 or drop him an email.

Wednesday 8 April

This fantastic initiative has already delivered nearly 200 meals along with cakes in it's first few days of operation:

72 meals delivered to Cairn House in Kingston
30 meals delivered to the Epsom Hospitals Intensive Care Unit
30 meals delivered to St Helier's Hopsital in Sutton
60 meals delivered to St George's Hospital in Tooting

We have received very generous donations of £300 from Donhead School and the Friends of Donhead, and we always need more help to carry on this great work, please visit our justgiving page to donate and please phone Greg on 07971 165990 if you can provide ingredients or microwaveable containers (these can be dropped off at the clubhouse most days from 3-5 pm) or any other support for this initiative.

Saturday 11 April

Thank you to the OWA Punters Club whose generous donation takes us to 70% of our justgiving target.

Tuesday 14 April

More local businesses getting involved with Doing a bit:

A cornucopia of Lamb Biriyani has been provided by the Princess of India in Morden
Stefano and Naoko of Vallebona in Wimbledon have created 78 meals today for the project

Wednesday 15 April

Calling all home bakers

Could you bake cakes, cookies or flapjacks and deliver them to the OWA clubhouse?

If so, please sign up to bake on the Doing a bit of baking.... page. Don't worry, you don't need to open an account - just put your name down against a date and include an email address so we can send you a reminder the day before!

Each slot is a commitment to bake a batch, ideally of 24 portions. So if you see that there are two cupcake slots available, that means we are hoping to have 48 cupcakes in total donated on that day.

Thursday 16 April

100 vegetable curries and rice donated by staff at Zaika Essence of India Restaurant in Teddington High Street.

Saturday 18 April

We started on the 6th April and we made and delivered 72 ready-made meals.

Yesterday we opened another satellite operation, which works in tandem with the OWA hub, and we made and delivered 300 ready-made meals.

So proud of the team.

Supporting frontline staff at Kingston Hospital ICU and COVID Wards: volunteers and donations needed

Given the latest surge in the new strain of coronavirus that is rampaging through our community, we hope that you and your family safe and well.

While we hope that you can shield yourself and your loved ones by locking down, we know that is not an option for some in our community, not least our brave and dedicated NHS staff.

Through our connections with the medical profession that were built up during our involvement in the previous, and truly inspirational, Project Doing a Bit last spring, we understand that the ICU and COVID wards are being overwhelmed.

Doctors and nurses are reporting back to us that it is much worse that it was in April and that they are working double shifts and days off to cope with the demand.

Consequently, the OWA committee is unanimous in its determination to do something to help and show our support and gratitude and we know that you will want to help too in whatever way you can.

What are we going to do?

In consultation with Kingston Hospital, Critical NHS, Dons Local Action and other partners, we want to kick start a new initiative to help Kingston Hospital staff by providing meals to its overworked staff.

We have been asked to provide 460 meals per week, which we will gladly do, but we can only do it with your help.

Our aim is to provide meals for the next 7/8 weeks.

What do we need?

We should be enormously grateful for both your spare time and a donation, however small.

The costs will be approximately £500 per week, but we only have 4 weeks worth of funds. We are therefore looking to raise at least a further £2,000.

In addition to funding, the initiative will require volunteers to prepare, pack and label food.

We will set up a rota which will run between 9:30 am and midday, 5 days of the week.

We would like to have 2 volunteers for each day of production and those days are:

Monday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Sunday

You will be able to sign up to volunteer online (see below for more details).

The first day of operations is hoped to be this Wednesday 13 January 2021.

We would also be very interested to hear from anyone who could provide us with a regular supply of meat (fresh or frozen); chicken, beef, mince etc., ideally for free, but at an attractive reduced price, if not. Please email chairman@oldwimbledonians.com if you can help in this regard.

Covid-Secure Environment

All volunteers must be acutely aware that there will be a rigorous safety and cleaning regime in place to protect you, staff and other volunteers.

We will provide you with PPE but feel free to provide your own mask.

Shielding and/or need a cooked meal?

If you are shielding and cannot get to the shops and/or find cooking difficult during lockdown, please contact us to see if we can provide you with a freshly cooked meal for a nominal donation. Please email chairman@oldwimbledonians.com with regard to this.

Thank you

It is humbling to serve an organisation whose members’ instincts are to help others during tough times, as you all did so magnificently during the first lockdown.

Therefore, in anticipation of you rising to the challenge once more, we thank you most sincerely and in advance for all your help and support.

Best regards,

The OWA Committee

To Donate

19 January 2021

We have now reached our funding target and any money left at the end of the project will be donated to local good causes.

Thanks to everyone who has been so generous.

To Volunteer

You can sign up to fill one or more volunteer slots using the online sign-up page.

Please contact Tim (membership@oldwimbledonians.com) if you have any technical issues in signing up.

Once you get involved, you may be asked to be added to a WhatsApp group to update you on activities and requirements.

The first 60 meals go out to Kingston Hospital

Thanks To All Volunteers

Thanks to everyone who has volunteered their time, money and baking skills over the last few weeks.

We have had 20 volunteers working with Richard to produce over 1700 meals for NHS staff so far and our bakers have produced over 1200 portions of cakes, cookies, flapjacks and other tasty treats.

We received the following from a member of staff thanking you all for all the hard work.

Hello and thank you again to all of you at The Old Wimbledonians Club from another grateful Kingston Hospital staff member! We really appreciate your thoughtfulness and generosity in providing such nutritious food (and some treats too) for us, we often don’t have the energy to prepare our lunches or dinners for the next shift after we’ve clocked off the day before.

With best wishes, stay safe and well

Sign up to bake for Kingston Hospital ICU and COVID ward staff meals

Many of you have expressed an interest in baking for the Kingston Hospital meals.

This is very welcome and in order to make sure we don't get inundated with too many baked goods on a particular day, we have set up an online rota which you can access via the sign up button below.

We're currently doing around 80 meals a day and the requested baking quantities have been set accordingly.

Cake or cookies need to be in simple portion size and individually wrapped. Cookies, flap jacks or cupcakes fit the bill.

Please avoid nut products and fresh cream or other dairy products which have a short shelf life.

They can be dropped off at the back door of the clubhouse between 9 am and 1 pm on the days you pick from the rota.

Richard will leave ingredients for collection as available, help yourself to what you need when dropping off your baking.

Baking slots are for 12 portions and there are 7 per day on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday and 14 on Mondays and Fridays (to cover the day after as well).

So if you think you can produce 24 cup cakes for a particular day then sign up for 2 slots on that day.

Funding target for Kingston Hospital meals reached

Thanks to the incredible generosity of our members, we have reached the funding target to enable us to provide meals for Kingston Hospital ICU and COVID ward staff until the 7 March.

Any money left will then be donated to local good causes such as the Kingston Hospital Charity who support Kingston Hospital by: funding cutting edge equipment and high quality clinical research; helping create the best possible patient environments; and recognising the dedication and caring commitment of staff by supporting their development and wellbeing.

There are still some volunteer slots left to help Richard prepare the meals.

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