Helping people find food

When it became essential for 99% of the British population to stay quarantined indoors, my first instinct as a parent was to think about the impact on my young family. I couldn't send the kids to school, so I focused on making sure that I had enough resources - food and educational - to sustain them during the uncertain days ahead.

I noticed that the routine of food shopping was very different from what I was accustomed to. Because the number of shoppers in the store had to be heavily regulated, the queues outside the store had spilled out into the street. On top of this, I had to queue for at least 20 minutes before I could even enter the store.

When I got home, I couldn't help but wonder whether or not this was the new normal. Would I (and other families) have to go through the same routine every time we wanted to shop for food, and how long would this last? How were elderly people coping?

The next time I went food shopping, I decided to check in with my elderly neighbours to see whether or not they needed any food. To my surprise, they both sighed with relief that I had checked - no one else, and they were fast running out of supplies.

What struck me was how much of a risk not "wanting to be a bother" could put the vulnerable around us in - without us ever realising. I wondered how many others were out there, struggling with their regular shopping trips, especially with reduced supermarket delivery slots.

When a recently unemployed friend told me that he was creating a large list of local businesses offering grocery delivery services, the penny dropped. We asked the great British public for help in listing small, local grocery home delivery services and LockDownPal.com was born.

The idea is simple. A simple crowd-sourced collection of local grocers and farms able to deliver groceries and fresh food to homes throughout the UK is offered to the public for free. The free, downloadable list available on LockDownPal.com, allows anyone to update, download or share with those who needed the information the most.

In the first few weeks, the list generated a significant amount of interest from people who were looking to give their distant and elderly relatives trusted phone numbers from which they could order food and essentials. As the social distancing measures increased, more young families finding it difficult to stand in supermarket queues for long periods began to show interest in the list.

And that's just the beginning. LockDownPal.com aims to go beyond just food and share free digital community-based resources to help people navigate these difficult times. We hope that you join us on this journey - sharing and jointly creating something beautiful.