Covid-19 Response

Over recent months due to COVID-19 Tavs has had to significantly change the way we operate in order to continue to support our community. It has been a challenge to support our community when face to face provision has had to be stopped or greatly reduced. Therefore we adapted some provision, introduced new provision and continually looked for creative ways to adapt. During lockdown our regulars struggled with food provision, mental health and wellbeing support and so we targeted these areas in our COVID provision.

• We have a list of approximately 70 regulars, most of which live in hostels. We have volunteers writing to them, sending regular cards of encouragement. These are gentle reminders that they have not been forgotten, they are valued and supports the sense of belonging and being part of a community.
• We have moved our food provision to a delivery service. We have prepared and deliver 50 hot meals twice a week on a Tuesday and Thursdays.
• On Sundays we have also been distributing food packs to approximately 70 people outside TAVS Centre and since the refurbishment to the kitchen we have run Sunday night burgers.
• An unexpected opportunity was to support Cardiff Council at the YHA Hotel, which has taken in 90 homeless folk. We cooked at the hotel for 90 people on Friday & Saturday evenings for five months during lockdown.
• In June we started running an art class on Wednesday afternoons at the YHA Hotel in order to provide a therapeutic activity to promote and support emotional and mental wellbeing.

New serving hatch

An architect (who volunteers for Tavs) came up with an idea to redesign the front of Tavs to create a serving hatch, as a COVID-19 measure, to enable the safe distribution of food from the building. Since the pandemic we have set-up tables outside to serve food from – having an outside serving hatch and a retractable canopy will make a huge difference to the way we can serve food and use the new kitchen.