Coronavirus Services Update for our Clients. June 30th 2020: Following the announcement by the government over recent weeks of further relaxation of the lockdown restrictions, we have carried out a further risk assessment to ensure the absolute safety of our clients, volunteers and staff.

Until such time as the virus is defeated, which is likely to be at the point that an effective vaccine is available, we do not anticipate that many of our services can resume. This is due to the layout of our buildings and the nature of our group activities which make it difficult to observe social distancing. We regret therefore, that our centres in Sheffield and Rotherham will remain closed for the foreseeable future, but we will keep the situation under continual review.

However, we are still offering several services and continuing to adapt to include more, within the Government guidelines.

Therefore, the services available at the moment are as follows

Our COVID-19 Response Team are still carrying out the following services:

• A shopping delivery service for clients without good support from family, friends of neighbours.
• A medication delivery service for clients struggling to get a delivery from their pharmacy.
• Issuing equipment that does not require “hands on” training.
• General advice over the telephone from a Community Advice Officer.
• Support with welfare benefit applications, including appeals.
• Delivering hearing aid batteries to our clients.
• Volunteers, working from home by telephone, continuing with their regular telephone befriending.
• Volunteers, working from home by telephone, contacting clients to let them know about the above services and checking the information we hold about the client.
• Our Mappin Street and Ship Hill Centres will remain closed for general visitors but a Community Advice Officer will be available between 9:30am and 3pm for “one to one” appointments to give general advice, attend to welfare benefit issues, issue/sell equipment etc. Full social distancing and infection control procedures will be in force and anybody visiting us must be prepared to wear a face covering, use sanitising gel etc. Anybody with symptoms of COVID-19 will not be allowed to visit us. If anybody is purchasing equipment the only payment method we will accept is by debit/credit card.
• We are sending out weekly Activity Packs containing things such as Large Print Word Searches, Crosswords, Quizzes, etc. which we can post out to clients.
• We have begun to set up virtual groups using online video conferencing.

All of the above are done whilst observing full social distancing and infection control procedures.

In order to access any of the above services please telephone 0114 272 2757 or 01709 722 420 between 8:30am and 4:30pm, Monday to Friday.

Looking a bit further ahead as soon as government restrictions are relaxed to the point that we can have small groups in our centres then we will consider re-starting the following activities:

 At Mappin Street:

• Looking Ahead Courses
• Tai Chi
• Pilates
• Yoga
• Mappin Writers
• Charles Bonnet Support Group
• RP Support Group

At Ship Hill:

• Tai Chi
• Tinnitus Support Group

• Outside the Centre:

• Cycling in Hillsborough Park

All of the above will be subject to the trainer/facilitator being comfortable with operating the group. Full social distancing and infection control procedures will be in force at all times and all groups will be supervised by a member of staff. Anybody attending the group that is not able or prepared to follow these procedures will be asked to leave the building. 

We will keep you informed of developments as and when anything changes but if you have internet access you can keep up to date by looking at our website or following us on social media:

Facebook: 

Sheffield: https://www.facebook.com/SheffieldRoyalSocietyfortheBlind/

Rotherham: https://www.facebook.com/RotherhamSightandSound

Twitter @SRSBCharity

Fundraising

Our fundraising income has been hit incredibly hard by the coronavirus pandemic due to the events we have had to cancel or postpone as well as all the uncertainty that the general public has about their current and likely future income. However, there are still a few ways that you can support us if you are able to do so. Sue and Jane in our Fundraising & Marketing Team will be pleased to hear from you:

Events:

Sheffield Stays In and Rotherham Stays In are both running from 30th May onwards. This is where you hold an event, which will have to be a virtual event with the current social distancing restrictions, and ask people to donate to us.

Direct Donation: You can support our appeal by following this link: SRSB_RSS_COVID-19 Appeal or by calling us or sending a cheque in the post.

Online Shopping: Amazon – If you shop online at Amazon you can use www.smile.amazon.co.uk where you can use your existing Amazon account logon details and select Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind as your chosen charity. Then every time you buy something we will receive a percentage as a donation from Amazon at no extra cost to you.

Give As You Live – Just go to https://www.giveasyoulive.com/join/srsb select “sign up” in the top right of the website and install the “plugin” appropriate for the web browser you use. Then every time you land on a website that donates through Give As You Live your purchases via that website will generate a donation to us. Again at no cost to you.