Adults with disabilities have helped to provide food parcels for hundreds of vulnerable families across County Durham.
Staff and service users from Durham County Council’s Care and Support Pathways have been working alongside partners Groundwork to support their Food Banks at Christmas appeal and support more than 450 families with children.
The Pathways centres, which provide a range of activities and therapeutic services to adults with disabilities and complex care needs, remain open in line with current government guidance.
After receiving fantastic support from the community throughout the coronavirus pandemic, service users and staff were determined to give something back and placed donation boxes at all five sites so that they could collect items for the appeal.
With the support of staff, service user Josh Spires collected all of the donations, with social distancing measures and coronavirus guidelines being followed throughout. Working with the Positive Journeys team at Pathways, Josh was eager to support the initiative.
Paul Graydon, Durham County Council’s countywide Pathways manager, said, “We are proud to work in partnership with Groundwork to support local food banks and the communities which have supported Pathways throughout this year. It has also been a privilege to see the way that Josh has grown in confidence and developed his skills with our Positive Journeys team.”
Cllr Lucy Hovvels MBE, cabinet member for adult and health services, said: “It is wonderful to see our Pathways staff and service users wanting to give back to the communities that have supported them this year and I’m very touched to see the efforts they have gone to in order to support so many vulnerable families.
“Despite 2020 proving to be such a challenging year, our communities have all rallied to support each other through the pandemic and I hope all of our Pathways users and staff enjoy a restful and well-deserved break over the holidays.”