Linlithgow church sets up support group to help locals get though Covid-19 lockdown

A Linlithgow minister has set-up a Facebook support group in the town to help locals get through the coronavirus outbreak lockdown.
By Kevin Quinn
Published 9th Apr 2020, 06:56 BST
Updated 10th Apr 2020, 09:06 BST

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Rev Dr Liam Fraser of the Linlithgow Coronavvirus Support group, with the leaflet that has been put through every door in the town.Rev Dr Liam Fraser of the Linlithgow Coronavvirus Support group, with the leaflet that has been put through every door in the town.
Rev Dr Liam Fraser of the Linlithgow Coronavvirus Support group, with the leaflet that has been put through every door in the town.

Reverend Dr Liam Fraser of Linlithgow St Michael’s Parish Church, helped establish Linlithgow Coronavirus Support, which has a dedicated email address and phone number for anyone in the town needing urgent help with supplies or emotional support.

He said: “This started before any of the restrictions. A group of us met in the church to discuss if things get worse how would we support people in the town?

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“At that point I contacted local churches to see if they would be interested in partnering on this. Then I contacted the community development trust and community council and various other people. We set-up the Facebook group on the day the restrictions came in.

“Within an hour or two we already had hundreds of members. Now we have 1,368 members. That allows people to help each other. People post requests for help then people get back to say they will help. It’s pretty quick

“It’s nice to see the new friendships springing up. They would never have had any contact in other circles. But this is the nice thing about this support group. People are coming together.

“It’s our pleasure to help. As the parish church we have been helping people here for centuries. But in a situation like this it becomes more important than ever.”

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As well as the Facebook group, Linlithgow Coronavirus Support has dropped a leaflet through every door in the town.

Dr Fraser added: “We realised that this is only going to work for people who have access to the internet. That’s why we decided to do a leaflet drop for the whole town.

“The church puts out an Easter card to everyone in the town so we wanted to use that distribution method, but couldn’t do that due to people self isolating. However, we got the Black Bitch pub into help.

“People came in one by one with social distancing to get leaflets to deliver. They were wearing gloves, while we had hand gel and social distancing markers. We try to ensure that through every step of this there is minimum contact going on. We are trying to get protective equipment as well.”

To join the group, click here.

Related topics:FacebookLinlithgow

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