Since lockdown started in March, life has not been normal for anyone. The team at the charity Community Transport have been working innovatively within local communities, to change and adapt to the needs of residents in response to the pandemic.

We have provided services that we did not previously. Changing not only what we offer to our customers, but our own mindset in how we work. This has been the case in both the West Midlands and the North East, where we provide both CT Furniture and CT Passenger services across local communities.

How have we changed?

We have adapted existing services across our CT Passenger and CT Furniture operations, catering to the needs of local people in this very challenging environment. Striving to meet the needs of our external partners for service delivery.

Staff in both areas have been responsive to the need for change and adaptation. They have worked incredibly hard to deliver services to those that need them the most.

Below are some examples of the work that we have been doing at Community Transport throughout the various lockdown periods:

FareShare - weekly collection of food trays from FareShare Newcastle Distribution Centre and delivering over 1650 meals to eight schools on Teesside.

Shopper Delivery Service - adapting a local bus route in Coventry to provide a delivery service to the most vulnerable residents in the area, ensuring access to groceries and other essentials.

Search Chain Reaction and Mental Health Concern - assisting staff from both organisations with weekly supermarket shopping for shielding and vulnerable residents of the Newcastle Central and West End areas then delivering items to homes.

Age UK North Tyneside - delivering hundreds of food parcels from Age UK North Shields Centre to local care homes.

West Midlands Ambulance Service - working in conjunction with them ensure that existing contracts to deliver patients for renal treatment complied with all social distancing measures, meaning extra resources to facilitate more vehicles.

Borderline Books, Gateshead - in conjunction with MHC delivering hundreds of donated books to shielding/vulnerable residents in Newcastle.

Shelter - in the West Midlands, working alongside the charity to provide furniture packs to support and get the homeless of the streets and into their own accommodation.

South Staffs Connect Service - delivering hundreds of shopping deliveries throughout the pandemic, across the whole South Staffordshire region, helping the most vulnerable members of the community stay safe in their own homes.

St Vincent De Paul Society - delivering food parcels from St Vincents, Byker to disabled residents in Newcastle West End.

Albright Education Centre, West Midlands - delivering lunch packages to the most vulnerable children, ensuring that the closure of their school impacted their home life less dramatically.

NHS - We are also working closely with the NHS, helping to furnish properties to house doctors and nurses travelling to the UK from overseas - so they have somewhere comfortable to stay while they help fight COVID.

Northumberland City Council - furnishing vacant properties during lockdown to rehome those people sleeping on the streets and those in abusive relationships.

Bournville Village Trust - supplying a furniture pack to a tenant, after her possessions were destroyed in a fire. 

Wolverhampton Homes & Trident Housing - helping with providing furniture packs, as other charities remained closed.

Knitting blankets  - for use by their minibus passengers when they journey to and from hospital to attend renal dialysis appointments at hospitals in the West Midlands.

Want to hear more about the charity Community Transport?

Community Transport are a self-funded National charity, which for over 50 years has been providing essential services and support in local communities.

The long-established charity aims to bring people and opportunities together to transform lives and build better communities. It has been helping to create a better everyday life for local people since 1964. It provides support for those who need a helping hand or are feeling vulnerable or isolated through the activities of its two main divisions: CT Passenger and CT Furniture.

CT Passenger provides a caring specialist transport service to improve people’s quality of life, delivering services in several local authority areas. It runs a fleet of wheelchair accessible minibuses and provides journeys for people with physical disabilities and for those who struggle to get out of the house.

It runs a fleet of 29 accessible and 14 non-accessible minibuses in the West Midlands and North East, with over 80,000 passenger journeys made since the beginning of January 2020, covering over 650,000 miles.

CT Furniture aims to provide people in need with access to affordable furniture. It does this through furniture donations, anything from small electrical appliances through to beds, sofas and wardrobes. These items are either reused in the local community or are resold through the network of shops or via the online shop. All with the aim of encouraging furniture re-use and reducing the number of items going to landfill.

All surplus funds raised through these sales of furniture are used by the charity to help support more people, whether that is by providing household items, transporting those with mobility issues or taking those isolated for their shopping.

CT Passenger has sites in the West Midlands in Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton. The North East is serviced from its depot in Newcastle.

CT Furniture has four retail stores in the North East of England, across Newcastle, in Blyth and Peterlee. It also has branches in the West Midlands in Birmingham, Bilston and West Bromwich. The national office is based in Brighouse in West Yorkshire.

Want to volunteer and help?  

The charity has a number of volunteer opportunities and are always looking for help from those who have time and are looking to make a difference in the local community.

In return, volunteers gain work-based skills that can help when it comes to finding a job. There is also the opportunity to meet new friends and be part of something worthwhile.

CT Furniture is a division of the Charity Community Transport Reg. Charity: No 247331.

Helping create a better everyday life for local people since 1964.

More information about the charity can be found at:  www.communitytransport.org