West Yorkshire Fire Service had a bright idea for how to support the community in times of social distancing. Each young person on The Prince’s Trust’s Team programme will produce ten “survival packs” for local elderly people and those with compromised health and immune systems. These packs will contain a whole range of items: puzzles, games, teabags, useful helpline numbers, and simple recipe ideas. Each pack will have information on the young people who made their pack for a personal touch. 

Emily Gilfillan, Team Leader from West Yorkshire Fire Service, from Huddersfield, explained that: “Normally, our community projects involve face to face support. In fact, the young people on the programme have already completed community work, as they’ve redecorated and refurbished Elim Church.

“With the current situation, we’ve changed our focus to how we can help people without direct physical contact. We thought about how elderly people and those with health conditions are stuck inside, and how there are already issues with accessing food and other goods. We decided it would help to put together a pack to support people in need and keep them entertained.”

Emily said: “the young people on the Team programme so far have got one hundred per cent stuck into the community aspect. They didn’t need persuading from us to help others – they were very involved and engrossed in supporting the local community.”

After The Prince’s Trust young people put together these “survival packs”, Team Leader Emily will be taking them to partners such as Elim Church so that they can be distributed throughout Dewsbury.