AIBU to ask for advice on what to do about a lady in our community.

Very tough situation, you've done all you can do; maybe the local council may be able to help as well, not sure if the lady lives in social housing, but they should have welfare advisors to signpost to appropriate services, but they're overwhelmed and overburdened!
Hopefully the doctors maybe able to refer her to other services thus alleviating the pressure from you

You have supplied her with some food and she is now already known to 1 food bank. I would explain you have travel commitments but give contact details for the food bank if she needs any other help. I would then reply to any messages from her with signposting - sorry to hear this, x charity/ food bank/ CAB/ salvation army/ church might be able to help you with this.

IME most food banks have someone very knowledgeable on signposting support in the local area, GPs, CAB or CAB phone line, Social services, associated support charities - (furniture, food, housing, benefits advice ect), links to churches and other support groups.

I would be very careful, some people are masters at scamming the system and contacting you as you seem "kind" could be a red flag as it could be that she is already known to other charities as a bit of a chancer or scammer. Or she has maximised the support they are able to offer, for example our food bank will take referrals and give 3 parcels in a 12 week period but then recipients are expected to engage with Social Services/ addiction support services ect that are offered to them as part of the support package.

I already posted up thread, but I would also flag her name/number on your phone, so you don't accidently answer it thinking its someone else:
'ALERT- Jackie calling' or similar.

More than likely she has contacted you is you are new and she has exhausted all the other options.

Being away and unavailable is one of the best ways to get out of these kinds of situations. It may sound harsh but OP is not qualified to help this lady going forward and there aee organizations who can arrange help and food deliveries. Its so easy to get sucked in out of a sense of duty.

You're clearly a kind hearted person. You don't need to take this on for her though and can point her towards other organisations and agencies.

You have done way more than anyone could have expected OP. For your own peace of mind, signpost her to the services that can help her and then walk away. Make yourself unavailable if she calls again. She is not your responsibility and you have done so much for her already.
I have worked in a community hub and with volunteer groups for several years and learnt that you can’t save everybody - not heartless at all, just realistic. I was told not to get too involved as people will expect it and other volunteers will not necessarily be able to offer the same level of support like delivering food.

Only read through quickly so apologies if already suggested but if she's in receipt of UC she can ask for a loan. They pay it in very quickly and you can pay back in installments. You've gone above and beyond for this lady, what a kind person you are but you have done enough and she needs help from outside agencies. As others have said, who looked after her dog when she was in hospital and who walks her dog (if that wasn't her you saw that day)? I'd be very careful you aren't being taken advantage of. Message her with numbers of CAB helpline, local Social services, even local church and then say you won't be available as you'll be away for a while. She's survived all these years and you've massively helped her out with enough food to last her a while, I'm afraid if she kept phoning me after I'd given her helpline numbers to ring then I'd block her.

I would wonder who she knew well enough to look after her dog while she was in hospital for over a month. Surely she could have asked them for help rather than leaning on a complete stranger.
O P you have been more than kind and caring as a neighbour. In your shoes i would back off after contacting social services. If you speak to her one last time you can tell her to contact PIP to reinstate her payments but other than that just allow yourself to drift away from this situation begore you get further embroiled.

Yes this , pass on her details to social services it will be under "vulnerable adults" or something like that. And local food bank And ignore her messages or keep it breezy but stop.buying her stuff.

You have already gone above and beyond what many people would do OP. I agree that you need to maintain boundaries. Provide the numbers to her and make it clear that you can no longer help.

We had a woman on nextdoor who sounded VERY similar, except she had 5 dogs, multiple cats and ran a supposed guinea pig sanctuary from her concrete courtyard. Every week she'd post that her pet food delivery hadn't arrived, does anyone know where they sell straw, is anyone selling a large dog harness, does anyone have a kettle etc. When people provided help, the response was always- I don't drive, I can't afford that. She'd post about 20 pics A DAY showing her walking her dogs, on the bus, receiving a massive bag of dog food. She had a link to her amazon page and some of the requests for pet items were over £100 per item- such as an electronic water fountain. When people pointed out that the dogs/cat were her pets- she'd become very rude. Eventually she was banned from nextdoor.

If you happen to have her full name, I'd look her up on Facebook and Nextdoor, that's where the scammers seem to go. I'm also very cynical that she called a gardening charity by accident, I think she's tried every food bank and main support system already and is now trying little places to panic them in to helping.

personally you have supplied her with some food. Now is the time to step away. You have your own family and job, so you cannot be expected to run around after her. Maybe she is lonely?
what i would do is type up a list of numbers to help her ie CAB, local food bank, day centres maybe, depending on her age Age UK anything like that pop it in her letter box or give to her with a polite i hope i have helped but i am afraid i am unable to anymore, here is a list of people who may be able to help you instead

You put yourself at risk going to an unknown persons house. You refer her to agencies who can help and that’s it. I have been involved with setting up a charity and done a lot of work with various community groups.

You need head over heart to actually run groups like this because many people target and exploit charities and community groups because they know community minded people work for them.

We had a volunteer give a lift to someone once and another that went with someone to help them choose a new washing machine. It was not in the remit of the organisation at all. I was not an organiser of that group. I actually left because they just didn’t run the group correctly at all which I pointed out. Another volunteer also left as it was a safeguarding nightmare.

Sorry if this has already been mentioned, I'm at work and no time to read full thread but do you know if the lady is in social housing at all OP? If it's a council/housing association property you could contact her housing officer who should be able to help.

All local councils offer help from the household support fund - which is being replaced from April by a new crisis resilience fund - go on your local council website and either do a referral form or give her the details to do it herself

I just don't know where to go from here

You "go" nowhere. You have helped out in what she presented as a crisis, you have no way of knowing whether that crisis was genuine or not. You have signposted her to help.

She needs to take charge now and sort herself out.

Tell her you've helped as much as possible, but you have researched organisations that can help her and text the list - CAB, if she is in social housing they can help, church, job centre. I am not saying it is the case here, but I worked with vulnerable groups and many used multiple sources to access food, money, help, until we put a central system in place and found some using 12 sources a week and some sellng the food to fund other uses, others unable to collect but had cars...! If this is your personal phone it should not be used for work, the organisation needs to get you one specifically for that purpose. You may also be invalidating insurance. Say you've been told outside the scope of the charity's help, but good luck with using the advice. It is not being hard, but protecting you and you certainly should not have spent your own money. Block the number after helping and get a charity phone.

I would be honest and say that although you've been happy to help that you think she really needs some more indepth/expert support and you can't help with that, but these people might and then give her a list of the numbers people have suggested. You dont have to turn your back on her. You could.step back but message to check on her (if you want to).
I think you've been really kind to her. Lots of people wouldn't have.

It’s a scam. I’ve had random people call me -my number is also listed as a contact for a charity - always asking for money for presents/food/something else for the children, but they are never interested when I suggest organisations that can help.

Does she live in private or social housing? If it’s the latter then her housing officer should be able to help her.

I wouldn’t give it another thought then as there may be every chance you were mistaken as you drove past.

@Justaquestion62636 you have done enough. Signpost her to charities who can help, block her number and ffs do not, under any circumstances, tell her you are away for a period. Even if she's genuine, she may onow others who aren't.