Lunch Positive volunteers Michele and Frances, having just cooked 150 veggie casserole meals!

In a move to protect clients and prevent the spread of Covid-19, Lunch Positive in Brighton has temporarily paused its weekly social gatherings and Friday HIV Lunch Club. It has introduced new online services, support and a doorstop delivery programme of cooked food and grocery items. This is all achieved through an amazing volunteer team of over 30 people.

“A new range of resources are being put into place to help people with HIV keep in touch with each other and to continue to be able to share and receive support”, says Gary Pargeter, Service Manager Lunch Positive. “These include a regular phone-in, a private Lunch Club members’ Facebook group, an online live support portal, and a regular members’ information mail-out. Lunch Positive is still regularly preparing food and outreach to people who have need of this. It is doorstep delivering supplementary cooked and grocery food items to members who are unable to shop, experience financial difficulty, often in poor health and experiencing vulnerabilities. These clients are being shielded, staying at home or self-isolating because of the risk of Covid-19. Responses from our clients have been overwhelming. People have told us our new support approaches are hugely beneficial. We have heard that food deliveries have helped enormously, and that people would not have eaten regularly or healthily otherwise. We’ve been told that clients would otherwise not have had any contact with the ‘outside world, and staying in touch in new ways has been a lifeline.” Pictured are our volunteers Michele and Frances, having just cooked 150 veggie casserole meals!