Featured

A message on safety from our CEO Jen Kerr: “Thank you to the hundreds of volunteers helping across Falkirk! Keep yourself and the people you are helping safe: Do not enter anyone’s home; leave shopping or messages on the doorstep. Maintain at least 2 meters distance at doorsteps. Wash your hands regularly.”

Our team has been working with our local communities and people to help place those who want to help out during the COVID-19 pandemic where they are needed. We now have a bank of volunteers who are ready and keen to assist local groups and organisations supporting people, and are asking those groups who need volunteers to get in touch with us so we can match them with volunteers.

Unfortunately, during the current COVID-19 pandemic, we are cancelling third sector forums held at our office. At the moment, this will be until the end of June. However, we are running a bi-weekly COVID-19 online forum using Zoom: the COVID-19 Third Sector Response Forum.

CVS Falkirk has launched VOLUNTEER FALKIRK, a new local volunteering phoneline providing you with up to date and relevant information about volunteering locally in the Falkirk and District area during COVID-19. So whether you live in Banknock or Bo’ness, we can put you in touch with local volunteering initiatives.

As a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic, CVS Falkirk has pulled together different guidance, resources, and amazing efforts by our local communities to support each other, in order to make them as widely available as possible. The page will be updated regularly with additional resources and guidance as they become available. Our team at CVS Falkirk has set up an online TapaTalk group to discuss third sector responses and offers for help, which anyone can join and feed into.

A message from our CVS Falkirk CEO Jen Kerr on the current COVID-19 pandemic:
“Dear colleagues,
We have had a really busy and inspiring week because of all of the amazing kindness and compassion taking place across Falkirk.  I apologise that we’ve not been in touch properly before now.
Inside is an update on what we are doing to support and enable your efforts.
Please be patient with us while we re-assemble and get organised!  But I want to reassure you that there is an incredible amount of support being mobilised across Falkirk’s communities and that we are working hard (from home mainly) and listening to what you are telling us you need to do that.”

Please find within a series of online resources available during the current COVID-19 situation, including Falkirk community and third sector responses, COVID-19 advice for UK employers from CIPD, and Health Protection Scotland’s COVID-19 Guidance.

The new CVS Falkirk Funding Portal is now live on our website! The online portal is powered by Grantsonline, the UK’s most comprehensive and up to date UK grant funding information service. Once registered, users will be able to search for a range of different funding opportunities, across local and national organisations.

Our team at CVS Falkirk would like to thank all of our exhibitors, suppliers and especially our attendees who joined us at Falkirk Funders Fayre 2020 on Tuesday! Special thanks goes to: our social enterprise pop-up café, Community Focus Scotland CIC, Marie from THINK Consulting Solutions for delivering the afternoon’s presentation on community fundraising, our partners at Falkirk Council, and Bowhouse Community Centre, our wonderful local venue. Without them, the event wouldn’t have been possible. We’re delighted to have been able to bring 23 funders and support organisations from across both the local and national landscapes to Falkirk this year.

Following today’s successful Falkirk Funders Fayre 2020, we’d like to remind everyone that we are also holding a FREE participation requests workshop on Thursday 12th March, 1pm – 4pm at the Forth Valley Sensory Centre, Redbrae Road, Camelon, FK1 4DD. Held in partnership with the Scottish Centre for Community Development (SCDC), the workshop is aimed at local community groups looking to find out how to use participation requests to start discussions with decision-makers about improving public services. A light lunch will be available from 12:30pm.