Humanitarian Aid Covid-19

Bread of Life, with the help of its long-standing partners who support our social and humanitarian activities, has managed to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable members of society whose financial situation and health have been further aggravated by the Covid 19 pandemic.

Previous experience of working in emergency situations helped Bread of Life to quickly adapt to the new circumstances caused by the Covid 19 epidemic and to continue organizing humanitarian activities in the developing crisis. Bread of Life workers already have experience of working in emergency situations.

Since the declaration of the state of emergency in March 2020, humanitarian aid has been organized in two ways:

•  Purchase of food, hygiene supplies and medicines for financially challenged elderly.These are not able to supply themselves with food and medication on their own and/or have specific needs due to illness or special dietary requirements due to diabetes, heart complaints, cancer, etc. During the state of emergency brought about by the Covid 19 epidemic, the elderly were forbidden to leave their homes over a period of more than 2 months, so the supply of food, medicine and other goods during that period has proved to be a challenge for us.
•  The distribution of basic food packages and hygiene necessities for the financially challenged elderly, while directed mostly to the elderly and widows, was also made available to single mothers, Roma families, and large families whose providers were unemployed. Distributions were mostly made to the homes of users who belonged to the high risk groups from the coronavirus infection, and also to some other vulnerable groups whose movement was restricted during the pandemic. The distribution of diapers intended for elderly dementia sufferers dementia was also made to the users' houses.

So far the following has been achieved:

Purchase and distribution of around 1200 different aid packages for financially challenged families, mainly among the elderly population.

•   Purchase and delivery of 300 different packages in accordance with the needs and health conditions of each of our beneficiaries (the elderly) who are not able to make purchases independently. The packages contained a variety of foods (meat, milk, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, dietary products), hygiene supplies and medicines. Food is purchased on a monthly basis regularly for the 35 poorest recipients. Through this continuous humanitarian assistance and provision for their needs, their quality of life has been significantly improved.
•   Distribution of 200 food and hygiene packages for elderly households. 100 such packages were in co-operation with the Serbian Red Cross, which coordinates the humanitarian activities of the Humanas network during the epidemic;
•   Distribution of 177 Covid hygiene kits with disinfectants, gloves and masks, to the elderly and Roma children from the Bread of Life programme, in order to increase their safety during the epidemic;
•   Distribution of 160 packages of school supplies for Roma children in Surčin and the Roma settlement on Čukarička padina
•   Distribution of 70 hygiene packages in the Roma settlement on the Čukarica slope;
•   Distribution of 1.5 tons of second-hand clothes through Roma associations in Makiš and Novi Bečej
•   Distribution of 89 food and hygiene packages for the socially vulnerable population;
•   Distribution of about 200 packs of diapers for the elderly and elderly dementia sufferers;
•   Distribution of firewood for the winter or paid electricity in the winter for the 15 poorest elderly households;
•   Distribution of about 200 diaper packages for the elderly and elderly dementia sufferers, thanks to a donation from the International Women's Club (IWC)

A total of 538 individuals, children and families were served through various types of humanitarian assistance.

During the state of the emergency and the accompanying travelling restrictions which included a ban on the use of public transportation, humanitarian activities were carried out by several mobile teams composed of employees of Bread of Life and young volunteers from our organization.