Dedicated to working with local residents and organisations with whom they continue to engage and support, The Hive Foundation continue to provide staff support for their partner school, Canons High School, which has helped ease the pressure on staffing by providing childcare for those of keyworkers. They have also been providing learning tools for all their other partner schools with online tasks and challenges which have been setup via a shared platform.
Having extended this offering, they have worked alongside local partners such as Young Barnet Foundation who are encouraging residents to stay active through #BarnetGetBusy and Unitas Youth Zone who are sending their content to all their members to help get through these difficult times.
Their Community Hub, OneStonegrove, has seen a huge increase in productivity. Working alongside Stonegrove Community Trust, St. Peter’s Church and Bread n Butter CIC, The Hive Foundation designed an action plan which saw them offer assistance to residents in the local community by way of providing food for those who were identified as elderly, vulnerable or at-risk. Partners such as Community Barnet and Age UK along with local authorities, helped identify those people and they have helped by providing food parcels and ready meals which are made onsite. To date, over 13,000 meals have been delivered and over £6,000 in donations have been received.
Of the 13,000 meals, The Hive Foundation have regularly delivered meals to both Barnet Hospital and Northwick Park Hospital, several food banks and over 150 separate households.
Having recently joined Harrow East PCN Community Champions, a group has also been formed to support residents of Harrow East, working closely with the Primary Care Networks of GP’s at Honeypot Medical Centre, Bacon Lane Surgery and Mollison Way Surgery.
Most recently, The Hive Foundation has assisted Barnet FC in joining the FFA, Football Food Aid; a new initiative to feed those in need across the UK by using the National League footprint as a distribution mechanism. Barnet FC is 1 of 5 pilot clubs alongside Barrow AFC, Harrogate Town AFC, Aldershot Town FC and Dagenham & Redbridge FC and if successful, FFA plans to roll out across the country. This initially involves the creation of an operational foodbank at the Hive London with a view to also deliver locally in the coming weeks.
In addition to the resources and services The Hive Foundation have developed for schools and partners, they have increased their output and engagement on their Twitter page by designing challenges such as ‘Where is the Ball, Ultimate Teams, Kit Designs, Anagrams and Word Banks’, as well as providing some player coaching cards and maths challenges. You can find all these by following www.twitter.com/hivetrust.
Should you wish to help with providing support to keep our community healthy and safe and to try and halt the further spread locally, please get in touch by contacting mdixon@thehivelondon.com.
The thoughts of everyone at Barnet FC, London Bees and The Hive London are with those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We would also like to spread our thanks to the amazing NHS staff who continue to support us all during this difficult period.
