Blog | Middlesbrough Voluntary Development Agency

Sarah's first week at MEC

19 March 2021 - 2:22pm

Guest blog from Sarah Lattaway, CommUNITY Actions project lead at Middlesbrough Environment City (MEC)

I joined MEC amid the pandemic, and frankly with some trepidation. Having had my interview via teams I never met any of the staff I would be spending more time with than my own family, so you can understand my nervousness.

The Christmas spirit is still alive and kicking

2 December 2020 - 10:12pm

It all started with an innocent question posted on our Teams chat by Kelly Baxter who works on our We Care You Care project who had been asked by a Kinship support group if she knew of any help this year for children’s Christmas presents. That set off all the staff at MVDA who got busy looking into the support on offer and different ways of potentially helping.

What to do with 28,000 sets of plastic cutlery?

7 October 2020 - 4:07pm

I'm usually the first point of contact when people ring MVDA, and sometimes get the most unusual offers and requests for help! This case is a great example of how we're able to step in and help others through our fantastic network.

#NeverMoreNeeded campaign

8 September 2020 - 11:56am

Charity and voluntary organisations have responded to the urgent needs of people across the country – quickly, effectively and without question.

In Middlesbrough we've seen amazing examples of response to need:

Let's work together to get basic digital access for Middlesbrough residents

24 June 2020 - 1:48pm

Guest blog by Sue Kearney, CEO at The Hope Foundation

Digital connectivity and access is a social justice and social inclusion issue. COVID-19 has demonstrated the basic lack of access for many Middlesbrough residents leading to loneliness and isolation at this time. The move towards more digital services (health, GP’s shopping online) means that local people will become further and increasingly disadvantaged due to one or all of the following