When Rye Mutual Aid (RMA) was set up, little did we know how successful it would be. Within weeks a management team was recruited and put in place, a website was designed and launched, social media platforms went live, and an urgent request for volunteers was firmly delivered – and we tend to forget that, as well as giving our community all this additional support, many of the RMA team are working people with full or part time jobs of their own.
The website was initially devised to impart information and let our community know that, for those who needed it, help and support was never far away. The website then attracted over 600 active volunteers who between them have carried out over 500 requests from those seeking support.
There has been really positive feedback from the dispatchers whose services have been very well received, whether it be for delivering prescriptions, shopping, collecting post, or just the opportunity to talk to people coping with loneliness and wellbeing.
RMA is highly organised and we are lucky to have such a professional and dedicated group who willingly give so much of their spare time and are so dedicated to the cause.
Their professionalism has not gone unnoticed and the clerk from a parish council in West Rother hopes to meet shortly with RMA to try and emulate what they are doing, as they recognise the quality of the best practices being utilised so professionally, with a view to rolling them out to local villages.
RMA have responded by offering them a supply of PPE to get them started and help them to react speedily.
Behind the scenes, and for a couple of weeks now, the team behind RMA have been putting together a new website which they hope to launch towards the end of next week.
As well as including all the existing information it will be packed with a host of new initiatives and, rather than spoil the surprise, Rye News will run an article next week publicising the new site – so watch this space!!
Keep up to date with RMA by visiting their website, and keep an eye on Rye News for next week’s update on the new and exciting RMA website.
Image Credits: Rye News library , Rye Mutual Aid .