Bitou Covid-19 Response Team Newsletter 01 July 2020
The Bitou COVID-19 Response Team was originally constituted to prepare our district for a worst-case scenario given our knowledge of the Covid-19 pandemic.
We set out to achieve this in the following ways :
- Ensuring that we have sufficient medical and personal protective equipment, medication, linen, and beds.
- Identifying and preparing an Isolation and Quarantine Facility constructing and managing a volunteer database.
- Provisioning a local Bitou Covid-19 hotline should the provincial and national hotlines be inundated, which has been set up and is ready to go live, when needed.
- Transparently managing incoming donations to achieve the goals set out, above.
To date, we have raised R4 254 688 – of which the Bitou Municipality has contributed R1 250 000 towards feeding, humanitarian relief, and the isolation unit.
We have spent R619 972 on personal protective equipment, R699 159 on medical equipment and consumables including oxygen concentrators and R193 410 on medical sanitation. All of this equipment is fully insured and is being stored in an alarmed storeroom.
Humanitarian Relief
Shortly after the implementation of the fund, it became very clear to just how urgent the need for humanitarian relief was in the face of the economic implications of the lockdown.
The response team began to focus on providing food aid and motivation for the soup kitchens to be reopened. Rob Bokelmann was given responsibility for this task and very soon 10 000 meals were being distributed daily and more than 60 soup kitchens had been reopened and established. Thus far R1 877 118 has been spent on food relief.
There is enough food currently in stock to feed 10 000 people for 50 days. This initiative gave rise to the Plett Volunteers, who have tirelessly and selflessly devoted their time and energy towards the packaging, cooking, and delivering products to the soup kitchens. The Plett Volunteers initiative will ensure that there is a future structure in place to mobilise volunteers in our community when the need arises. For more information please visit plettvolunteers.co.za.
Community Garden Project
While the provision of immediate food aid was unavoidable, the crisis also highlighted the need to ramp up food security among the most vulnerable communities in the short to medium term. With that goal in mind, Julia Prema was placed in charge of the community garden project which aims to ensure that 50 % – 60% of the households in the 7 wards (approximately 6 000 plots) have established food gardens within the next few months.
The project aims to identify people who already have vegetable gardens or who have shown an interest in growing their own food and to educate them through volunteer-driven workshops.
Please contact Julia Prema on 084 588 9282 if you would like to get involved.
Donations of gardening equipment, seeds, compost, etc. would be most appreciated. Julia will be happy to inform you where these donations should be delivered.
The Plettaid Foundation/Hospice Plett
In the light of the above, The Bitou Covid-19 Response team believes that we have achieved what we initially set out to do and have decided to start winding down the fund for two reasons:
- When we initially established the Bitou Covid-19 Response Team, the PLETTAID FOUNDATION/ HOSPICE PLETT very generously offered us the use of one of their bank accounts along with the associated auditing and account management services. The PlettAid Foundation/Hospice Plett treasurer, bookkeeper, and CEO have been working tirelessly ever since, ensuring that all members of the committee adhere to strict procurement protocols. The Board of Directors of The PlettAid Foundation/Hospice Plett now wish to return their focus to their core business: Palliative care and the support of families facing a life-limiting illness.
- The humanitarian relief/food support needs of the Bitou community will now be managed through the Plett Volunteers, headed up by Rob Bokelmann.
In alignment with this strategy, we shall ring-fence R 250 000 to remain in the fund for emergency medical needs of the Bitou Community and continue to support the feeding programme managed by the Plett Volunteers, until the end of September.
We are therefore asking donors to please find other channels for their generous donations – the Bitou Covid-19 Response Team will no longer be taking donations as of today, 1 July 2020.
A further R184 747 remaining in the account representing contributions from the Bitou Municipality will be used for the infrastructure and management of the Isolation and quarantine facilities. These facilities are for members of the community who are unable to self-isolate while awaiting test results or after obtaining a positive result.
Any equipment remaining after the pandemic that has subsided will be donated to Hospice or sold – and the revenue donated towards ongoing feeding schemes or to The PlettAid Foundation/Hospice Plett.
The Bitou Covid-19 Response Team would like to thank all those who have donated towards this project, from the bottom of our hearts. The members of our wonderful community have, once again, shown themselves to be resilient, generous, and open-hearted in troubled times.