Living Water ramps up efforts to help vulnerable

The Living Water Community (LWC) has helped some 75,000
local people and refugees since it began supporting those most vulnerable to the pandemic in March 2020.

LWC co-ordinator Rochelle Nakhid told Newsday 44,000 Trinidadian families received the hampers it has delivered weekly, while some 30,000 migrant and refugee families have also benefited from aid programmes.

Nakhid said in 2020 the LWC distributed 34,000 hamper, and between February and June 2021 it has distributed 10,400 more bags of food.

She said: "LWC continues to deliver hampers weekly to local vulnerable families through a registry they have been developing even before the covid19 pandemic."

Before the pandemic, LWC had a food bank and 400 registered local families who received help regularly, but the list has multiplied owing to covid19 restrictions and unemployment.

LWC estimates it will be able to deliver 700 hampers weekly in the next six months.

Nakhid said in addition the LWC has provided around 90,000 sandwiches and cooked meals to 300 people, Monday through Friday, from March 2020-June 2021.

In addition, in 2020 more than 22,000 migrants and refugees received food assistance, as well as more than 8,000 so far in 2021.

“It is estimated more than 16,000 migrants and refugees will receive food assistance through the end of this year,” she said.

Most migrants and refugees receive assistance through an automated QR code system that has been implemented in collaboration with WiPay and a network of 30 supermarkets. People apply and if approved, receive a QR code via e-mail that allows them to go to a participating supermarket and choose the items they need, excluding alcohol and tobacco.

There is also a second support system through its Ministry for Migrants and Refugees, which includes people from Venezuela, Cuba, Jamaica, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ghana and Bangladesh, among other nationalities.

LWC has estimated that it will supply less aid this year compared to 2020.

"The goals for this year are lower due to the fact a greater amount of funds is distributed per household, focused on a greater impact for the most vulnerable cases.

"Also we have provided thousands of pounds of bulk items as rice, beans, canned meats, corn flour among others to various communities in Trinidad and Tobago so they can bag and distribute in their areas," she said.

Local people needing assistance should register online for the LWC's covid19 relief response. Once they meet the criteria in the registration process they are added to its weekly distribution list.

The aid application system for migrants and refugees is similar, with an online form, but then they get a call from LWC officials to complete a phone interview.

“With regard to migrants and refugees, the main problem has been the large number of applications received in a very short period of time, and the limited capacity of the staff to process them. As of March 2021, there was only one staff member at the Ministry for Migrants and Refugees dedicated to food assistance. This has now increased to four," Nakhid said.

Still, the four can only process a fraction of the more than 5,000 families – representing around 20,000 people – currently on the waiting list.

Nakhid said applications increased by more than 600 per cent as a result of the current restrictions.

“The electronic QR code system allows us to send assistance to a large number of people at the same time, but conducting interviews to assess the need and verifying identity and verifying databases takes time. LWC is in the process of further automating the application system so that cases can be processed more quickly in emergency situations, when there are a large number of applications."

Nakhid said the biggest challenge facing the LWC and its team is not being able to meet the needs of everyone in need.

“We thank God for the amazing generosity that has come from the private sector, as well as from corporate Trinidad, Without that support we could never achieve what has happened and continues to happen.

"We are in this together, and we need to work together to overcome this pandemic in our nation."