Red Green Cards is a wonderful community spirited initiative in these unprecedented and concerning times that we recently became aware of. And instantly wanted to get involved with.

The vulnerable and elderly are integral to our communities. Yet it’s clear right now they face greater threat to their health and are at a higher risk that the rest of us. And whilst they self-isolate for their safety, they need our support more than at any other time.

What’s the idea?

A simple yet effective idea conceived in a small village in North Yorkshire, inspired NHS surgeon and Junior Doctor Shilen Patel set up a national site. As the energy and passion grows within communities to support those self-isolating, Red Green Cards provides a nationally co-ordinated registry. People can volunteer their time locally to help safeguard the health and well-being of vulnerable and elderly neighbours during the Covid-19 crisis.

And the premise behind Red Green Cards is beautifully simple. Registered volunteers distribute green and red cards to the vulnerable and elderly self-isolating in their community. Those self-isolating pop a green card in their window to let local volunteers know they’re OK, they’ve got enough food, medication and feel safe. Alternatively, if they need some help they can place a red card in their window, indicating what they need. It could be food, medication, shopping, posting mail, needing a simple chat or other reasons.

We wanted to get involved and offered our services free of charge. Working with Foundry12 we designed a version of the cards including instantly understood thumbs up or thumbs down images and we printed 100,000 of these. All of which have now been delivered to Red Green Cards.

Get involved

We want everyone to know what Red Green Cards is and to really get behind it. So please head on over to their website. And if you can, register yourself as a volunteer. You can also visit them on their social channels to share and support all the work being done:

Twitter: @patelshilen

Instagram: shilenpatel1382

Facebook:  Facebook.com/redgreencards