Birmingham student creates 1,000-strong volunteering group to help during the COVID-19 outbreak

A nursing student from Birmingham City University has set up a volunteering group to help vulnerable members of her south Birmingham community during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Katie Dixon, who is studying adult nursing at Birmingham City University, has recruited nearly 1000 people to help in the Kings Heath community, with another 250 people awaiting approval to join the ranks.

It follows government calls for 250,000 volunteersto support people who have been asked to shield themselves from the virus by staying at home for 12 weeks.

As a student nurse, Katie says she was inspired by a desire to help people in her community.

Katie started out by dropping flyers off to neighbours on her road, offering to help with essentials like shopping, but soon discovered that others would like to offer their help and that more residents could benefit from it.

“I mentioned that I had created a flyer to help the elderly and vulnerable on the road I live on. It quickly became apparent that others wanted to do the same, so it made sense to create a group specifically for this purpose."

Katie adds: "Organising and leading a mutual aid group containing nearly 1,000 volunteers – with another 250 awaiting approval – has been a huge learning curve. But it’s also been an amazing opportunity to put my leadership skills into practise.

“I’m finding myself using skills including time-management, team-working and delegation. I’ve written mutual aid safeguarding and GDPR guidance for volunteers – with some help from the professionals of course.

“It’s been a whirlwind, but we are making a difference and that’s what it’s all about."