At the start of the Covid19 emergency, a wide group of Dover organisations gathered to discuss how to work together to support the most vulnerable people in Dover. From this larger group, the Together4Dover initiative was established operating under the umbrella of Dover Big Local. A small team of representatives from Dover District Council, KCC Community Warden, an NHS Social Prescriber, a local Methodist Minister, Chair of Dover Big Local plus volunteers met. We worked together (via Zoom) to prioritize those who would need support and to ensure the necessary practical and safety measures were in place to launch the first initiative: to help people with shopping and prescriptions. We worked hard to safely mobilise the many volunteers who had offered to help through the Dover Covid-19 Facebook group, set up by a local resident. The Together4Dover Helpline was officially launched on Friday 3rd April.

Call our automated phone line on 01304 892519 open 24 hours every day and one of our operators will call you back
between Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm to arrange your errand or appointment. Now that restrictions are being lifted and shielding has come to an end, errands services are being suspended and the last errands will be run on 12th April 2021.Please place any requests by 8th April to allow 48 hours for completion.

We try to fulfil all the requests for help within 48 hours. If you call after 1pm on a Friday, your errand may not be done until the following Monday. Please note: due to restrictions being lifted and shielding coming to an end, our last errand will be run on 12th April 2021. Please place any last errand requests by 8th April.

The maximum amount for essential shopping is £30 once a week to one shop.

All volunteers must provide a character reference before they can undertake any errands. Each errand volunteer is supplied with a pack including personalised ID card (to be shown to the resident), hi-viz vest, face masks and sanitiser gel. Our Helpline Volunteers are provided with guidelines of how each service works and all volunteers can ask questions at any time. Regular feedback is sought from our volunteers so we can help them to help us improve our services. We also ensure that any concerns raised by our volunteers regarding residents are referred to the KCC Community Warden, NHS Social Prescriber or other appropriate agency.

Together4Dover covers the following areas: Dover town centre, Whitfield, River, Kearsney, Guston, Hougham, Eythorne, Elvington, and Alkham.