Bitou Covid-19 response team reaches goal
The Bitou Covid-19 response team has reached its goal and will no longer be accepting donations.
In a statement, the team said it was established to prepare the area for a worst-case scenario given the known statistics on the pandemic and therefore set out to obtain sufficient medical and personal protective equipment (PPE), medication, linen and beds. The team was also tasked to identify and prepare an isolation and quarantine facility, and to establish a volunteer database to deal with the ramifications of the virus.
According to the team, R4 254 688 was raised, of which R1 250 000 had been donated by the Bitou Municipality.
More than R600 000 has been spent on PPE, almost R700 000 on medical equipment and consumables (including oxygen concentrators), and just short of R200 000 on medical sanitation. “All of this equipment is fully insured and is being stored in an alarmed storeroom,” the team said.
Humanitarian relief
Shortly after establishing the fund, the urgency of humanitarian relief became clear. “The response team began to focus on providing food aid and motivation for soup kitchens to be reopened. Rob Bokelmann (local resident) 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 in stock to feed 10 000 people for 50 days, the team said. “This initiative gave rise to the Plett Volunteers, who have tirelessly and selflessly devoted their time and energy towards the packaging, cooking and delivering of 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.”
The crisis also highlighted the need to ramp up food security among the most vulnerable communities in the short to medium term. “Julia Prema was placed in charge of a community garden project that aims to ensure that 50 to 60% of the households in the seven wards (about 6 000 plots) have established food gardens within the next few months.”
The goal is 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.
Return to core business
When the response team was established, the PlettAid Foundation/Hospice Plett offered it the use of one of their bank accounts along with the associated auditing and account management services. “The board of directors of the PlettAid Foundation/Hospice Plett now wishes to return their focus to their core business: palliative care and the support of families facing a life-limiting illness.”
The humanitarian relief and food support needs of the Bitou community will now be managed through the Plett Volunteers, headed by Bokelmann.
“In alignment with this strategy, we shall ring-fence R250 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 as the Bitou Covid-19 response team will no longer be taking donations.”
The team said a further R184 747 remaining in the account will be used for the infrastructure and management of the isolation and quarantine facilities. “Any equipment remaining after the pandemic that has been subsidised will be donated to Hospice or sold, and the revenue donated towards ongoing feeding schemes or to The PlettAid Foundation/Hospice Plett.”
One of the Bitou Covid-19 response team’s goals was to provide humanitarian relief to locals affected by the global pandemic.
One of the Bitou Covid-19 response team’s goals was to provide humanitarian relief to locals affected by the global pandemic.
One of the Bitou Covid-19 response team’s goals was to provide humanitarian relief to locals affected by the global pandemic.
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Source: Knysna Plett Herald News