CASE Central does not just give Welfare Rights advice. We offer various other kinds of practical support to people who would be otherwise isolated or helpless. For this reason, we are NOT… ‘just another CAB’!
Our Front of House volunteers can help people who, due to various barriers, have problems with communicating. They can sit with clients and phone with (or for) them to the DWP, HMRC, the Council, etc. They can also give more basic help, by referring people to food banks, advising people about other services in town, or simply helping them with understanding a letter. By offering a place where people can meet and talk we have encouraged people to network and support each others: some of our volunteers and visitors have been builders, electricians, plumbers, nurses, child minders, cooks… and they have even advised people from DIY to health issues or cooking!
CASE Central also offers a Care-Of Address to homeless people who need to receive post or to any people who, for various reasons, feel that their own address in unsafe.
If you want to know what the local community says about us click here.
The Covid crisis and our work
The Covid crisis that started in March 2020 has caused great concern, as well as practical and financial problems to our local community. People had their jobs suspended or even stopped, and vulnerable clients were told to self isolate for months. CASE has been busy to its neck helping people during this crisis. We have distributed free food to people and delivered food to self isolating people, and we have been active on the telephone giving welfare advice. At the time of updating this page (8 December) we have already gone through two ‘lockdowns’ and we are in a ‘tier 2’ area where people still suffer from restrictions.
Despite the restrictions we have managed to offer a children’s outing to Fishers Farm between two lockdown, with great joy of children and parents who had not been able to go anywhere for months. Some of our clients live in crammed flats with no garden and the lockdown has been very hard for them. For a short report see our Facebook page here. We are also organising a Covid-safe children’s event for Christmas. To know more click here.
But human beings need more than food to be human… The Covid crisis has unfortunately increased isolation and social divisions in our community, all illnesses which are as bad as Covid-19 itself – and which needs more than free food and toiletries to heal!
CASE thought to provide people with something more spiritual… We thought that playing music could help with this. So, after the first lockdown we launched an initiative entitled ‘Healing from the Covid Crisis’. This was a series of guitar practice sessions which were held at the Tavistock Down Community Garden in the late summer and early autumn 2020. To know more about this initiative and for a photo of our sessions in our lovely local garden click here.
Following the success of the open air course, we will continue our guitar sessions in the winter, this time in a large hall – either St Richard’s Community Hall or the Hollingdean Community Centre. The events are free for adults over 16 who suffer with long term stress/depression, elderly people, and people who feel the need to connect with others in non verbal ways (please ask us if you are interested).