Cllr Paul Steele has been given the Kisimul Award during this years volunteers week.

Abigail Taylor

Volunteers’ Week is a UK wide campaign that takes place from 1st -7th June every year.

Working with the Western Isles volunteer centre on Uist, Am Pàipear spoke to Cllr Paul Steele about his award winning volunteering efforts throughout the pandemic.

Cllr Steele established Resilient Uist, with a group of volunteers, as a point of contact to help those who were stranded at home due to isolation. 

He explained: “Resilient Uist started last January, we were having a look at resilience planning as a whole for the islands and the community council had a chat about a local resilience plan with things like weather and ferry cancellations. Next thing, the rumours of COVID started and about lockdowns. It was a quick turn of events and we needed to think, should there be a lockdown, what do we do?”

A call on social media for volunteers found a significant number of people ready and willing to help with the project.

Delivering prescriptions and shopping were the main tasks set for the volunteers, to anyone who needed the service in the community. 

Steele said: “It was difficult because of how restricted things were at the beginning of the pandemic but we had so many volunteers and even more on standby who said they were able to help if needed but hadn’t given out their details officially.”

With help from Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, the team at Resilient Uist would receive shopping lists from isolating members of the community and the volunteers would do the rest.

He continued: “We had to do something for those in the community who were unable to do these simple tasks.”

Community spirit was being felt across Uist throughout the pandemic as Cllr Steele explained: “The reaction was really positive. At the beginning of the pandemic we weren’t as busy as expected but that was because people were out helping their neighbours and keeping an eye on those in need. We were just a backup service but we were there for those who were really struggling.”

As well as prescriptions and shopping the ‘Ticks and Crosses’ initiative was introduced to encourage those who needed help to ask. Through this, window signs, with a green tick to indicate all is well on one side and a red cross to signify assistance is required on the other, were distributed to houses on Eriskay and South Uist. 

“It was more than just shopping though, it was a check in on neighbours and a chat at the door for people who weren’t able to see anyone else.”

Resilient Uist had over 3000 interactions with people in the community in relation to delivering prescriptions, providing a shopping service, supporting food bank deliveries, putting people in touch with other local agencies such as Caraidean Uibhist and also being the Comhairle’s main point of contact through their volunteer help desk.

On top of that the Ticks and Crosses scheme covered over 900 households in Eriskay, Lochboisdale, Bornish and Iochdar Community Council areas.

As well as Resilient Uist, Cllr Steele organised Christmas gift bags and a Santa’s sleigh for the children in the community.

He said: “We delivered gift bags to approximately 380 households, 650 adults and 100 children. We then provided 160 meals to the over 70s in the area and I can’t stress enough the generosity of our volunteers but also Double Mac at Burnside who provided those fish, chip and sausage suppers free of charge. The trifle, mousse and carrot cake desserts given to us by Croft and Cuan were great too, fantastic work from our community.

Then on the Monday we had our Santa’s Sleigh ride from Eriskay to Ormiclate which we live streamed on Facebook, it was fantastic and loved by children and adults alike.”

He expressed his gratitude towards the volunteers involved and every business who helped out along the way.

“We continue to help out and are thankful for all our volunteers, the effect their actions have had in our communities is immeasurable, and it was all done because it needed done and people wanted to help out. We don’t do it to get recognition but I think it’s really important that if there’s a way we can show our appreciation for our volunteers then we should do it so I want to say thank you to all of them and I’m glad I’m able to help out a little bit too.”

On the topic of volunteering, Cllr Steele said: “Volunteering encourages community bonding and it helps people with their day to day lives, especially during the pandemic. It has been quite an isolating time for a lot of people and it can already feel like an isolating place to live here. Lack of travel for example to see family can be detrimental.”

He continued: “With volunteering at least people know that their community is looking out for them, even if you do live away in the back and beyond. There will be people there to help. The other side of it is, during the pandemic, people felt helpless and didn’t know what they could do to help or what they were able to do to help, volunteering gave them that option to give back.”

There are so many opportunities to volunteer in your community, Steele concluded: “It’s really rewarding to volunteer here, there is plenty to get involved in. whether it be coaching kids in football or joining games committees or the hill race. The volunteers here are the heart of the community and a lot of the time it goes unnoticed.”