Katherine Waterston and Jude Law Help SpareHand Deliver Half a Million Meals
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have been wide-reaching, and two Fantastic Beasts actors are among the celebrities working with SpareHand to volunteer. Katherine Waterston (Porpentina Goldstein) and Jude Law (Albus Dumbledore) have joined the new platform in its effort to provide meals to those in need amid the lockdown in the United Kingdom. That now includes the “UK’s largest volunteer-driven meal effort.”
SpareHand was set up over Zoom in March by a group of friends from various backgrounds, including former British Army officers, humanitarian workers, entrepreneurs, and museum curators. The platform, which helps charities match volunteers with tasks, has seen volunteers provide over 27,000 hours of their time over the last ten weeks. This includes the preparation and delivery of 500,000 meals, thanks to over 3,000 volunteers.
Waterston, who noted that she was hospitalized with COVID-19, is a founding member of SpareHand.
At the start of the pandemic, I got COVID-19 and was hospitalised here in London, where I received fantastic treatment from the NHS. While I was recuperating at home and considering how I might meaningfully give back, my friend Scott Liddle told me about his idea for SpareHand, and I immediately jumped on board. It’s been great to be part of SpareHand and to witness its phenomenal growth in just a couple of months. It’s been great to see how individuals and charities alike have taken to the service; to hear them rave about its ease of use is really encouraging. I have always suspected that there’s a large portion of the population who want to volunteer but are deterred from doing so because they don’t know how or where or like me, they have schedules that make it difficult to commit to regular service – SpareHand solves all these problems.
SpareHand emphasizes that its work isn’t only about the current pandemic.
SpareHand helps charities and community groups find and manage volunteers using a sophisticated algorithm to ensure high-quality matching of volunteers to those in need. The platforms puts community groups and charities in the driving seat – giving them the tools to find, manage and schedule volunteers, reliably and at scale.
Some of the charities that have partnered with SpareHand to make its meal effort possible include Bicester Pioneer Volunteers, South Central Ambulance Service, and Magic Breakfast.
You can find the press release from SpareHand below.
For more information about SpareHand, visit its website. You can also follow the platform on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.