Churches join forces to launch ‘Hope’ vouchers

A COALITION of churches have flagged emergency relief as their most immediate focus and are roll-outing out ‘Hope Vouchers’ to vulnerable families in each of the 11 districts over the next three months.

ALSO READ: Emergency relief for vulnerable families amid Covid-19 outbreak

The Food Relief programme is being driven by five Christian NGOs each offering specialist areas of expertise working together under a single umbrella network comprising City Hope, Domino Foundation, Nation Changers, SA Red Cross and Zoe Life as a part of the broader project convened by the KZN Christian Council. In order to be as inclusive as possible and to support all those in need, a group of volunteers working through Zoe Life are focusing their support efforts on foreign national communities in particular as they are not always able to access government and formal relief programmes.

“We are excited by the willingness of a myriad church organisations who are eager to work together in an astonishing show of solidarity to address various urgent concerns in the fall-out of the Covid-19 pandemic, the related lockdownand their impact,” explained Douglas Dziva, CEO of KZN Christian Council, which is co-ordinating the combined churches’ response coalition.

Initially its food relief consisted of hampers of basic food staples and hygiene products. Already 609 756 meals have been packed and distributed across KZN since 25 March 2020. However, in the interest of improved efficiency and deliverables, and not relying on cumbersome and expensive distribution networks, there is a move to use food coupons, ‘Hope Vouchers’ which can be redeemed at retail partners, Boxer, Checkers, Pick ‘n Pay and uSave, instead.

The vouchers have been made possible through innovative, cutting-edge technology powered by Intellimali, a well-established SMS voucher service provider, to develop a solution that sends vouchers via SMS to beneficiaries identified by local community leaders and church networks to be redeemed at retail partners. With operational costs funded by a designated grant, and Intellimali supplying the bespoke system at cost, this solution is extremely cost effective with 98% of funds getting directly to the beneficiary.

Church leaders invite businesses, organisations and individuals to contribute generously.

The KZNCC website has further details: https://www.covid19churchresponse.co.za/
For Donations, online giving, stats, maps and accountability visit: https://www.dominofoundation.org.za/ – click on the Covid 19 relief button
For Credit Card donations: https://www.dominofoundation.org.za/product-category/reliefaid/For Zapper donations: https://zapper.com/url/eoKQQ-BdEu

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