Business services company Mushroom is providing free phone lines and call-handling systems to over 70 Covid-19 community support groups from around the UK.
The phone systems are playing a crucial role in helping volunteers communicate with vulnerable people to arrange local support including groceries, medication and other critical deliveries. Over 2,000 calls were made to these phone lines in the first week of April, equating to over 94 hours of talk time.
Many of the volunteers have already expressed their gratitude- “It’s been a game changer and a life-saver. We are already receiving 20+ calls a day and have been able to provide a faster and more effective response to so many more people because of this. We’ve been able to take the group from covering patches of the local area through people sharing their personal numbers, to giving comprehensive support across the whole borough through a joined-up system. We recently helped get a food package to a homeless man who hadn’t eaten for days and we were able to get to him in time because he could call us directly”.
Voluntary groups are able to register for free telephone lines on the company’s website, www.mushroombiz.co.uk