377. Bit of a lesson learned.

Sometimes we get referrals from the council. This one came through, a lady who had been visited by a social worker that day and only had a jar of marmalade in the house. We got texted the address but no contact details. It was an address 8 miles out of town, but we went anyway, arriving at half seven at night, finding a house down a dark alley with no lights anywhere, with £50 worth of shopping including toiletries and everything else a person requires. And we couldn’t deliver it. The whole situation felt both unsafe and unsatisfactory. Which was slightly upsetting, given the effort, expense and 16 mile round trip late at night, and taught us to only accept referrals with the contact details of the recipient so we could check the situation for ourselves before setting off. We are, to be fair, professional.

The next day we delivered it to one of our occasional recipients, she got in touch at just the right time, and was thrilled. She’s probably never had £50 worth of groceries in her life. Forgot to get a photo of the three huge bags being delivered, but then she texted us a thank you with a photo of the food she had just cooked. She even put a plate together for a neighbour. All is well. And lesson learned. We do things very efficiently here, and we have to maintain that efficiency especially when working with other agencies. I feel to apologise for the excessive spend and run around in this instance.

Funded by EM Magazine subscribers £51.38