Covid-19: Rays of hope continues to serve the community during the lockdown
ALEXANDRA – The #Hope4Alex relief campaign aims to assist those in need.
NPO Rays of Hope’s 30 years of support to the poor and elderly in Alexandra continues into a time when they are most vulnerable to the coronavirus.
The poor and elderly are vulnerable to malnutrition and other ailments which compromise their immunity, lack of proper and safe shelter, reliable food supplies and access to health support. Some of them were all alone under bridges and bushes they made home, without access to basic daily needs such as water and proper sanitation when the virus emerged. They placed their hope on the government which committed to getting them to shelters where they could be cared for.
Rays of Hope, in partnership with more than 30 smaller NPOs in the township, aims to limit this suffering through a relief campaign #Hope4Alex to help reach these victims.
In a statement the organisation’s CEO Sihle Mooi said, “There’s no time more pressing than the current situation of the Covid-19 coronavirus, for everyone to work together to help the most poor, overcrowded and under-resourced residents of Alex who massively vulnerable to any disease outbreak,” Mooi said.
He identified the following people who are hit the hardest:
- Unemployed without extra money for soap, sanitiser and to stock essential items
- Families with children in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions
- Sick and elderly who can’t risk exposure
- Those on irregular salaries which depend on days worked
- Families which rely on school feeding schemes for children
- Those without access to medicine and treatment.
Mooi added, “It [the drive] will reduce the need of those who are infected to go shopping for food and travel to doctors except in severe cases, and improve their cleanliness and hygiene.”
He appealed for non-perishable food, basic medicine, soap and sanitisers. The products will be packed in hampers and distributed by the partner organisations. “The intended 1 000 hampers may be a drop in the ocean but every drop still counts.”
Company donations will receive BBBEE points and a Section 18A certificate will be issued for cash donations. Please visit the Rays of Hope website or contact the organisation if you would like to donate to the #hope4Alex campaign.
Details: www.raysofhope.co.za; 011 784 6214.
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