supporting each other through the coronavirus pandemic
Organising Comittee
Rowenna Davies
Committee Member
I'm a secondary school teacher here in Croydon and got involved because I really wanted to help. My main focus has been supporting our foodbanks. I help run a weekly meeting of all the foodbanks and soup kitchens in Croydon jointly with the CVA and help with a lot of referrals, particularly from our hostels and those suffering from domestic violence. I'm also working on a project with Cllr Janet Campbell and Liz Felt-Wood to train 1,000 "Mental Health First Aiders" in the borough to help provide a first port of call for support. If any of those areas sound like something you might like to help with, please do get in touch!
Ben Taylor
Committee Member
I'm a Coulsdon resident who is very active in the local community. After seeing people start to come together to help their neighbours I wanted to get as involved as I possibly could and Mutual Aid felt like the natural way for neighbours to come together to support neighbours and build communities.
John Clingan
Committee Member
I set up a WhatsApp group for our road in South Croydon and registered it with the CCMA who did a great job in providing information and advice to us ‘admins’. I helped out with the South Croydon Mutual Aid group and recently volunteered to be a member of the CCMA organising committee in order to help with the work required now and contribute to developing plans and tools for the future beyond CV19. I'm also the chair of the South Croydon Community Association.
Leoni Descartes
Committee Member
I got involved in the early days of CCMA, a little before the lockdown was announced where swift action was required to reach as many residents as possible in the borough. I designed the flyer and posters and have helped with OC decision making from the outset, focusing on supporting where I can on social media, safeguarding, and planning.
Scott Ainsworth-Payne
Committee Member
I am the Chairperson of New Addington Residents' Association (NARA), we established in February 2020 with the sole purpose to support the community. When it became clear that COVID-19 was going to have a major impact on us, we looked at ways we could transform NARA into a support service for residents. At the same time CCMA was setting up and looking for help organising, we saw the opportunity to get involved and I volunteered to join the Organising Committee. In CCMA I have worked on a number of things, most recently organising phone numbers for our Local Mutual Aid Groups (LMAGs). Currently I am working on linking up our LMAGs with third sector organisations in their localities to work out how we can continue to positively impact the community in a post COVID world.
Simon Sprague
Committee Member
I got involved because I became aware that there were lots of people living right on my doorstep in difficulty because of COVID. I was pleased to get involved with setting up and advertising local groups in Fairfield, and supporting other groups in neighbouring areas.
Lee Jones
Committee Member
I am a Reader (Associate Professor) in international politics in the
School of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary, University of
London