Bank of Support connects those in need with givers

People in need as a result of the pandemic and people who wish to give assistance will be able to connect through the Bank of Support, an online portal which opened on Friday.

The project is the brainchild of Ross Advertising Agency’s ReThink programme, in collaboration with the Ansa McAl Group and others.

At the virtual launch on Thursday, Ernest Ross, chairman/executive creative director of Ross Advertising, thanked the volunteers and those who had come together to donate warehouse space, vehicles, time and expertise to put the programme together.

Chester Parris of Ross ReThink described how the programme would work.

He said the online portal at www.bankofsupport.org would offer two forms to be filled out – one for people needing support and one for people offering support.

“The first form is called the withdrawal form, and the second is the deposit commitment form. They ask what help you need and what support you’re willing to offer respectively.

“Once the forms are completed, our team of volunteers will go through them and match the needs to the givers. Once this is done, the two parties will be sent a confirmation email with contact information. It is then up to them to decide how the exchange will take place. If people want to be anonymous, the bank can facilitate the exchange. We will not accept direct financial donations of cash.”

Parris said the confirmation email could take two to five days, depending on the availability of donors. He said neither the requests nor the offers of help will be viewable by the public.

“People can offer to give food, services such as plumbing and electrical, time, bill payments, in-kind deposits. NGOs can also offer their services through the website.”

The programme is accessible to nationals and non-nationals and there is a Spanish-speaking element to the programme.

Ross said the group is working with the Blind Welfare Association to make it accessible through screen-reading software. The programme can be accessed via WhatsApp and accommodations will be made for people who are not able to fill out the forms online.

ReThink head of operations Stacey Ryan said it was great to be part of the initiative.

“We want to support those who are in need by connecting them with those who want to help.

“It’s been heartening to see the response since the announcement was made by people trying to help in some way or other. We’re all trying to do this together. One person can reach only so many people, but together we can help so many more.”

Frances Bain-Cumberbatch of the ANSA Mc AL Group said the initiative was a way to give back and help people during the pandemic.

“We at Ansa McAl are proud to be able to participate. The present-day reality shows that we have to come together to survive and thrive. We are so much more when we pool our resources together. This is a call to action for us to come together. The bank draws on what resides in the best of us, and we will emerge stronger than ever. This initiative is even more important now that people cannot go and visit each other to assist due to covid19.”

Ross said measures had been put into place to weed out as many fraudulent requests as possible.

“We have implemented similar systems before, though not on this scale. We have verification systems in place, which are robust though not necessarily foolproof. However, we didn’t want this to hold us back in terms of trying to fulfil the needs of people. The forms have built-in security processes which the volunteers are trained in.”

He said a high demand is anticipated and the website is set up to accommodate the traffic.

Support is being given to the initiative by other members of the corporate community including Xtra Foods, Fineline Distributors, as well as registered NGO’s and civic-minded individuals.

The Bank of Support can be accessed via www.bankofsupport.org or WhatsApp at 322-4BOS (4267) and 267-4BOS (4267).