14,000 applicants, but 3,500 ‘to get cash help’

Over a 12-week period, the Household Mitigation Unit has received 14,339 requests for assistance from the Barbados Vulnerable Families Survival Programme established to assist those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Corey Lane, special advisor to the Prime Minister on poverty.

But barely a third of applicants – 5,000 – have been deemed eligible for the assistance, and of that number only 3,500 will actually receive cash assistance of $600 a month for three months, he said.

Lane said through the help of churches, charitable organizations and corporate Barbados, the unit has been trying to help the remaining 1,500 households with food vouchers, hampers, and other assistance that can be rendered.

He also revealed that he is in discussion with policymakers to find additional mechanisms to assist these vulnerable persons.

The special advisor gave an update on the Programme as he accepted a donation of $10,000 in food vouchers from the Rotary Club of Barbados West in conjunction with Jordan’s Supermarket, Fitts Village, St James.

He said: “Unfortunately at this time the programme is now closed to new entries and of course Barbados continues to have one of the widest social safety nets across the Caribbean and across the world. There is the Welfare Department and the Poverty Alleviation Bureau that we have been asked to refer persons to because we really don’t want anybody slipping through the cracks of the safety net, so they will be referred there.

“But we are working around the clock to ensure that we get the assistance out to those persons who have registered before. There are a number of persons who would have registered a while back and I know that it is very frustrating for them and we are doing all in our power to ensure that the most needy, the most vulnerable among those get.”

Lane extended gratitude to those persons who would have assisted beyond Government’s $10 million that was injected into the programme. He mentioned that this was the second time Jordan’s supermarket would have offered assistance.

While Jordan’s previously made a donation of $50,000 in food vouchers, Lane said the Seventh Day Adventist Church and the Barbados Association of Professional Social Workers, among other groups have been making contributions to the programme.

“We know a lot of people out there are hurting and hundreds of people call me daily because the rent is backed up, the utility companies 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 at be. Amputees, diabetics, newborn, pregnant women, centenarians you name it are suffering,” Lane said.

President of the Rotary Club of Barbados West Jean St John said while the Club has an ongoing project where it provides hampers to needy families during Easter and at Christmas, it proved to be difficult to execute this year due to COVID-19.

But St John said the club decided to work with the Mitigation Unit to utilize the support that should have been given during Easter, to those in need at this time.