COMMUNITY spirited Crawley Council staff and councillors set out to help vulnerable residents during the extended severe weather yesterday.
A group of around 12 people, including the Mayor Brenda Burgess, visited as many town residents as they could to check elderly and vulnerable locals were okay.
They offered their services for emergency shopping trips and prescription collections, let them know about changes to council services and told them about other agencies, like Age Concern, who may also be able to help.
Licensing Officer, Mike Lyons, was one of the volunteers out at lunchtime today, he said: “Our efforts were very well received and many people thanked us for our concern and the initiative shown by the council.”
If no one answered the door volunteers left a leaflet letting them know the council had called, providing information on temporary refuse and recycling sites and gave contact details for residents to call if they needed help and support.
Council Leader, Bob Lanzer, thanked volunteers for their hard work and concern, he said: “Thank you very much for volunteering to help vulnerable Crawley residents in these difficult conditions; people really appreciated this demonstration of support.
“It has been a feature of the weather conditions that things can look very much worse in your own road, especially if you cannot get out to see the situation beyond it. In these circumstances, a visit from Crawley Borough Council must have been a reassuring experience.”
Last Friday, a call for council staff to volunteer over the weekend and during the freezing conditions generally, saw more than 30 people offer their time in half an hour.
The council’s Emergency Planning Officer, Tim Mordaunt, will be able to call on the support as and when it’s needed until the weather improves.
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