Business Recovery Response to COVID-19: MacIntyre Charity

Tell us about MacIntyre and what your role is.

My name is Lorraine Devereux and I am Corporate and Events Fundraiser for MacIntyre, a national charity that provides care, support and education for more than 1,200 children, young people and adults with a learning disability and/or autism.

What challenges have MacIntyre faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and what challenges have your supporters faced as a result?

There have been many challenges for MacIntyre over the last 3 months and we continue to face them.  Many people we support have been in lockdown and shielded and continue to be at the present time, missing regular contact with friends and family and adjusting to a total change of life overnight.  For the majority of the adults we support daily routine offers stability, a sense of feeling safe and happy so the impact on lives has been huge.

For those supported through our day services and outreach, learners have missed regular sessions and routine and we have worked hard to try to support them and their families remotely. 

At MacIntyre School, children who are supported term time have also not seen friends and family, for those children who went home before lockdown, we have continued to provide support to them and their families.

Technology for all of these services and the people we support has proved invaluable – sadly not all services have enough of that technology available, so fundraising has been working hard to secure additional funding and equipment to keep people connected with friends and loved ones.

On top of all of this, operational struggles in sourcing hand sanitiser, PPE and ensuring our staff stay safe and well has been truly challenging and we are not yet the other side of this.

How have you overcome these challenges?

Our Senior Management team have held weekly meetings to ensure a co-ordinated response to the changing situation.  For the Fundraising team, our immediate response was to support the organisation in sourcing vital equipment which at that time was in short supply. From hand sanitiser from a local distillery to masks from a local school whilst at the same time, looking at the impact on fundraising and what we could do, moving cancelled events online and exploring new ways for people to stay connected with us and fundraise.  Support from our local communities and local businesses has never been more needed.

What difficulties do you foresee now we are coming out of lockdown and what support could help?

As lockdown gradually lifts, the emphasis shifts slightly to helping people we support with feeling confident about resuming day to day life, when many have not been out for months.  We are working with people we support on social distancing and what that means when out and continuing to adapt how we offer the best support we can alongside government guidelines.

Support from community, business and local authorities remains critical for us as we enter the next phase – fundraising remains a challenge, events are unlikely to resume in the way that we know them for some time so we continue to look at all we do and be creative in what we can do to engage our communities and their support.  

What message would you pass on to others?

Firstly our thanks to all those who have supported us over the last few months – from coming along to our virtual quizzes to Moving with Macintyre during May, to donating iPads and tablets and also Community Foundations and COVID response organisations who have supported and granted us with funds to buy technology etc. that we needed to keep people feeling connected.

A huge thanks also goes to those people who joined us on a temporary basis by working for MacIntyre when their own situation changed.

We hope that people will continue to support all that we are doing at MacIntyre and people can do this in so many ways – from supporting and fundraising for us as a business or as an individual, joining us at one of our online events, buying something we need from our Amazon Wish List, to sharing our stories and posts on social media, it all helps.

Lorraine Devereux, Corporate and Events Fundraiser at MacIntyre | T: 01908 230100 | E: lorraine.devereux@macintyrecharity.org