Stories from Hubs
Hubs serving Choices clients - Archway / Highgate Hub
3 April
We have had a couple of opportunities through Choices to practically serve our local community. We have seen this play out by understanding what the need is for the individual or family, putting a call out to our Hub to see if anyone is willing to support and then encouraging them as they help serve. Most often this looks like purchasing groceries and delivering it to their homes.
This process hasn't always been easy with some of these items in short supply and multiple trips being required. However, this has reminded us that God always provides and has helped us to live generously and sacrificially. Serving the community has not only had an impact on the families receiving support, it has also helped us as a hub to fix our eyes on Jesus as we learn to love our neighbours well.
Hubs getting involved in Mutual Aid groups
8 April
“A few weeks ago, when quarantine and lockdown were just getting discussed, we wanted to see how we could serve our local area of Willesden Green. Finding out about mutual aids groups, we reached out and found out the lead coordinator was the CEO of a company based out of Ark- seemed like the sign we needed!
Keen to be involved, both of us ended up drawing on our respective backgrounds in project management and counselling (what we had in our hands) and ended up on the admin board of the group setting up the system which is now running across the ward to enable vulnerable and isolated individuals to request support with shopping and pharmacy pick ups.
Though it has been hard to fit this around the huge change in culture, constantly having to consider safeguarding and health and safety limits, as well as our own busy work schedules; there's been amazing provision from God and huge highs from the experience. We've formed friendships with local people, many of different faiths, to come to this goal of making sure nobody goes without or is forgotten. We've had the chance to connect to people facing heartbreaking grief and worry and speak peace and joy to them which has felt a real privilege.
We've also been able to engage our NW Hub in the plans, with Rachel Smith coming on board as one of our call handlers, spreading the joy even further.
These mutual aid groups are going through the city, along with the government NHS support scheme and local council initiatives. They are all working to connect people who are able to serve their local community with those who need help. It'd be wonderful to hear how others from our wider communities were finding opportunities to serve their local areas.”
Neighbourhood Facebook Group
10 April
Just thought I’d share about a Facebook that I’ve started for our building of about 60 flats. Was amazed at how keen people were to get involved and people have been offering to add stuff to their online shops to help others. Really beautiful to see community coming together. I have been praying that God will use this time to bring about community and I can start to see the fruit of that.
Bread Hub Quarantine Letters
30 April
“We just wanted to share a little hub idea with you that we’ve found really fun and a great way to encourage, love and inspire each other at a distance...
We were chatting about how fun it is to get exciting things in the post, so have created a chain of ‘Bread Hub Quarantine Letters’. It’s basically a little parcel that one person starts, posts onto the next person (who adds their own bits and bobs to it), posts it on to the next person, and so on.
The parcel encourages everyone to add different things to it; writing a ‘good thing God thing’ from the week, recommending top playlists, our favourite TikToks, inspiring new reads, or current film binges, sharing a particular verse / song we think God is speaking to us through at the moment, flat-pack paper games, little gifts to each other, and general words of encouragement / thoughts from the week.
Here are two of our wonderful Hub-ees who were first up. We’re excited to see how it evolves over this time and can’t wait to look through it as a group when we’re all back together, using it to reflect on all that God’s been doing during this time.”
Hubs Serving Locally
5 May
“A lady in my hub is shielding and shared in one of our first few meetings of the difficulties of losing independence and the ability to be out and about as an extroverted person. Of particular concern to her was her inability to secure a grocery delivery slot after contacting multiple stores in her area and spending hours on the search. A guy in my hub perked up at this and announced that he was quite good at securing slots and had knowledge of different vendors. They continued the conversation after hub and on the same night, within an hour or two, she had a delivery of fresh produce to her door. This was of course lovely, but she shared later of how she'd been praying about this quite desperately and how floored she was by how simply God had met her need and assured her of his presence with her. “