HOW WE REACTED TO THE PANDEMIC
In order to eliminate even the slightest risk of spreading the virus ourselves, we had to put a full stop to three of our projects on the 11th of March (+1 sandwich, Ételmentés, Vitamin Commando). Pausing these projects means a shortfall of nearly 5000 portions of food per month from the social care system – not to mention the additional donations and physical help – so we needed to prepare for a new type of operation. We are focusing on logistics and communication now and decided to put more emphasis on the types of donations that are most necessary in the current situation.
The majority of our team is working from home, but our volunteers help a lot with delivering donations. We have created a group that welcomes new volunteers besides our regulars.
In the past two weeks, we set up an open donation center in the garden of the Táblás Temporary Shelter and Day Center. We have delivered the following, mainly from here, to the social support network:
- 850 kg apples
- 17,280 unfiltered 100% apple juice (0.2 L)
- 32,800 portions of multivitamin
- 1,071 doses of cleaning supplies
- 6,000 portions of non-perishable food and hot meals
- blankets, masks, rubber/latex gloves, disinfectants
We are in constant communication with the homeless and elderly care system. We provide hot meals to three homeless shelters, thanks to the Egy-tál-étel project in collaboration with Egészségkonyha, and another project we are working on with Hokedli. We will deliver 1200 washable and ironable masks to the care system in the coming days, and in the following weeks multiple of this, depending on our procurement opportunities.
The donations we have moved in the last two weeks were worth nearly 5 million HUF in total, and we are certain that in the following weeks it will remain the same or grow. The donations we received from you for our VitaminBoom! action and food totaled 1.5 million HUF. As a first step, we have purchased non-perishable food, vitamin supplement, and masks, and hot meals were made and donated to the elderly care and homeless care system, for temporary family housings and orphanages, for 1.3 million HUF.
We are continuously assessing the current needs of institutions and use the donation funds to meet those needs.
We are in collaboration with the Hungarian Red Cross, doing everything we can to support their work.
In the past few years, Bike Maffia has always been emphasizing the importance of having a good relationship with not only charities and the members of the social care system, but with companies and other market players as well. As a result, we are able to fight shoulder to shoulder with smaller and bigger companies now, to alleviate the problems caused by the pandemic.
Besides health care employees, social workers also put a huge effort into their day to day work, risking their health to help those who are not only invisible for the majority of society but are also at a higher risk. Kudos from us to them! We will keep doing our best to help them in their work.