In the wake of COVID-19, like many initiatives, we have been significantly impacted and we are facing a real challenge. As a not-for-profit organisation almost entirely dependent on grant funding, we are now having to reevaluate how we operate but also how we can still help – because we also want to do whatever we can, given our area of expertise, to help better connect people via technology and enable them to enhance their knowledge online during this difficult period, and beyond.

We know many of our past participants, and others like them, want to stay in touch with the people they care about, we know they want to access information, and we know they want to know how to do these things – at little or no cost. And we want to be here to help them to do these things.

We are currently exploring several options – from tutorial videos, to live online tuition, to web forums for our service users to stay connected to each other too, with our initiative driven towards making sure they have support in learning how to utilise this technology to stay in contact, continue learning, and keeping informed during this difficult time.

We are eagerly trying to identify funding sources so that we can deliver the bulk of the above to our valued service users and supporters, at low cost or even no cost – and we are working as fast as we can to develop a fundraising strategy in addition to a learning programme that can still be delivered in this challenging time.

We want to thank our participants, partners, and funders for their involvement and support so far. In the meantime, please do also stay safe, and stay smart!