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A drop in the ocean: what I learned as a community aid volunteer
MILES ELLINGHAM chronicles his experience volunteering for a local Covid-19 mutual-aid group in London and how the vulnerable tell a story of systemic government unpreparedness
Signs thanking key workers and the NHS are seen in South London

SINCE lockdown, despite the rising death toll, hundreds of thousands of young people have come forward in an empathic embrace for those most affected by the Covid-19 outbreak.

There are 750,000 NHS responder applicants, weekend supermarket staff and up to 400 different community aid groups.

This explosion of compassionate manpower has been described in the New York Times as “a stirring display of British national solidarity” and may even have led Boris Johnson to negate Thatcher’s famous maxim, admitting: “There is such a thing as society.”

News of a volunteer army blossoming out of a deeply divided society is good news, and quite moving too. However, we mustn’t pat ourselves on the back too hard. Having volunteered to ferry groceries and medicine for the local community relief group, I can tell you first-hand, the more people you interact with, the more apparent our institutional shortfalls become.

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