Household Mitigation Unit receives $10,000 worth of vouchers

Jordan’s Supermarket and the Rotary Club of Barbados West have joined forces yet again to lend a helping hand to the Household Mitigation Unit. With many families in dire need due to the far-reaching effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two organisations have teamed up to donate $10,000 worth of vouchers to go to those households.

During a presentation that was held yesterday at the supermarket’s Fitt’s Village branch, Head of the Household Mitigation Unit and Special Advisor to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation, Corey Lane, said that the donation was a timely one as there were many households that were in serious need of help, with some going without a meal two and three days. Stating that the vouchers would be going to some of the most vulnerable families to provide a buffer until they could receive the monthly $600 that was allotted, Lane added that they would at least ensure that families had food for the foreseeable future.

With the programme being launched back in March by the Prime Minister to assist the 1,500 most vulnerable families, the reach of the virus has left its mark on a larger percentage of the population and the programme was forced to be expanded to meet the need.

“Obviously to have the workplaces and so on shut down for such an extended period of time, we have had to go way beyond that. We have more than doubled that and we’re looking at assisting 3,500 persons. Fortunately or unfortunately, the numbers really exceed that in terms of requests and registration. We have over 14,000 people who have applied for the programme and we are looking for mechanisms to help beyond that,” Lane said.

The programme is currently closed to new entries as the island continues to provide one of the widest social safety nets across the region and the world, however, the Government has provided an alternative in a bid to pick up the slack.

“So there is the Welfare Department Poverty Alleviation Bureau that we have been asked to refer persons to. We really don’t want anybody slipping through the cracks or the safety net, so they will be referred there. But the persons who are registered already, we are working around the clock to ensure that we get the assistance out to those persons who have registered before.”

Stating that he knows and understands the frustrations of persons who would have registered sometime back, Lane said that the Unit was doing all in their power to ensure the most vulnerable are tended to. With many different persons all making their cases for assistance, Lane said that rendering help remained a double-edged sword and begged all registered to bear with the system.

“Obviously there are reports out there of persons believing that they should have gotten and other persons should not have gotten. And with the best people in the world and the best systems in the world that would happen. The point of the matter is that right now we have the team really behind the wheel, fully awake and trying to get the assistance out to the people over the next two weeks – everybody that would have been approved that would have been registered.”

With just over 5,000 persons registered under the programme, Lane took the opportunity to extend thanks to all the persons who donated and surpassed the Government’s initial $10 million mark. He also expressed gratitude to the likes of Rotary Club of Barbados West, Jordan’s Supermarket, the Red Cross, Barbados Association of Professional Social Workers, Volunteer Barbados and JCI who have all lent invaluable assistance to the project.

Going on to admit that it was an extremely hefty task and that the Government had its work cut out for it, Lane said that the unit was working tirelessly to see everyone through these trying times.

“We know that a lot of people out there are hurting and hundreds of people call me daily and the rent is backed up. The bills, the utilities – they are calling and people are in tremendous pain. And I am trying my best to work with the authorities, providing the advice as I have been asked to do to the powers that be in terms of how we can genuinely get a lot of Barbadian households out there that are hurting, and hurting desperately,” he said.