While BCM headquarters at Grosvenor House, Puddleducks Day Nursery and BCM Room Hire are currently closed to staff and the general public, the majority of our staff continue to deliver essential frontline services to vulnerable people in the midst of this pandemic.  These people were already facing many struggles which have been exacerbated by the current situation. 

For example:

• we are finding that carers for the older service users in our Housing Support project are unable to do laundry for them. As some of our older people have continence issues they are running out of clothes and are unable to purchase new ones as they do not have computers or are not tech-savvy enough to be able to order new clothes for themselves.  We would like to be able to shop online for our service users and be able to buy new clothes and have them delivered to them. They are needing essential items such as underwear, socks, etc.

• additional PPE safety equipment is needed for support workers who are providing Housing Support to both older people and younger people across the Mid Ulster area. BCM has a total of 12 support workers in this region who are providing support to people living independently in their own homes. Many of these people are self isolating due to age or medical conditions and therefore depend on BCM to bring them essential goods such as food, electricity and means of heating. The PPE will be provided to staff to ensure that they are following guidelines from PHA and are protected as much as possible from Covid – 19, as are those they work with.

• All group work as part of our Parents' Support projects has been cancelled and staff are making adjustments to working from home whilst ensuring we still deliver a service to families in need. We have scaled back to only carry out essential home visits whilst practicing safe social distancing and we do not go into any homes during this pandemic. We have been seeking funding to purchase a bulk supply of nappies, arts & crafts items and work books for primary school age children.  As the families are social distancing, it is putting additional strain on the family units and these items would greatly help the children who aren’t able to attend baby mornings, other fun activities or school. Many of the families are also finding it difficult to afford, source or even get to the shops to buy nappies. Our project staff have been keeping in touch by phone as far as possible and dropping items of food and other essentials at their doors.

We are currently unable to keep in touch with many of our supporters and so have lost the potential income from one (and possibly two) of our regular fundraising appeals. The temporary closure of our Room Hire service and Puddleducks Nursery has also substantially reduced our income. The ongoing purchase of PPE for Kirk House - our Residential Care Home - and for those other projects which are working directly with service users has resulted in a substantial and unforeseen increase in expenditure, as have the additional associated staffing costs.  While unexpected, these are of course costs that are vital to the ongoing delivery and operation of our essential community, housing and social services that we provide to communities across Northern Ireland.

If you would like to help us, you can make a donation via this website or, if you prefer, you can set up a standing order to make a regular contribution. Whatever you can do, it would be so very much appreciated.

THANK YOU