Words by Smiley Team
With the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, 19-year-old Rory Moore returned home from his studies at the London School of Economics feeling passionately that he needed to do something for those hit hardest by Covid-19. Starting with a solution to help his local community, his initiative quickly grew to become a global project helping people deal with Covid-19 in 40 different countries across six continents.
He began by designing a flyer about volunteering opportunities which he posted on social media and distributed to his neighbours, friends and family. By submitting their contact details, anyone in his village who wanted to could help others with small acts such as shopping or chatting over the phone to people in isolation.
“Knowing that young people would have more time on their hands with schools and universities being closed, I wanted to encourage them to have a positive impact and to assist the vulnerable in our community,” he said.
This escalated and, in less than a year, Rory’s local endeavour grew into an international volunteering organisation, Coronavirus Community Volunteering (CCV). The United Nations and Prime Minister Boris Johnson have praised the organisation for its positive impact on Covid-inflicted communities. A short video about CCV produced by UNESCO is available here.
“I didn’t intend for it to become a global organisation,” Moore explained, “but I have an international network from my university, and many of my contacts told me that they liked the idea and that there was a need for it where they lived too. Consequently, it was important to come up with a scalable solution.”
To expand CCV, Moore partnered with a tech firm to create an app that would connect volunteers to people in need. Once online, the organisation became accessible to anyone anywhere in the world. Working with pre-existing volunteer groups, the organisation offered a means through which people with local understandings of how to tackle Covid-19 could implement their projects successfully.
If you’re keen to support CCV, you can get involved by signing up as a volunteer in your community. Download the app here to get connected to people struggling with isolation and find out how you can help.
“The great thing about having a digital volunteering solution is that anyone can use it anywhere at any time,” said Moore, adding: “We are always looking for new partner organisations around the world, and we hope to carry on our work beyond the pandemic: the need for community volunteering will not simply vanish when the public health situation improves.”
You can also help cover the costs of running the online platform by donating to the organisation.
To connect with CCV as a partner organisation or to donate send an email to [email protected].
