Poverty relief has always been an important ministry for many religious organisations in T&T. Under the umbrella of the Roman Catholic Church, the St Vincent de Paul Society and the Living Water Community (LWC) have for decades been looking after the needs of the poor and socially displaced.
In the Evangelical Christian community, the various outreaches of faith-based NGO Is There Not a Cause (ITNAC)---which celebrated its 18th anniversary yesterday---are well known, as are the efforts of Muslim businessman Inshan Ishmael and the charitable endeavours of Hindu groups and other religious bodies.
These charity works, which are ongoing, are usually ramped up at times like these when a crisis situation takes a particular toll on T&T's most vulnerable citizens.
And makes no bones about it, COVID-19 has brought a crisis to our shores of a magnitude we have never experienced before. The virus has created unprecedented levels of poverty across the country, resulting in many families being rendered unable to fend for themselves.
The overwhelming levels of hunger caused by the pandemic were laid bare last Friday when hundreds lined up outside the Living Water facility in Port-of-Spain for food hampers. Some people had been outside from the night before, keeping up a desperate vigil in the hope of some sustenance. Sadly, there were more people than hampers and some went away empty-handed after the police were forced to shut it down due to safety issues.
There have been similar incidents around the country, which is why every effort must be made to ensure the $30 million being disbursed to various faith-based organisations is properly administered and reaches those in genuine need.
Working through religious groups is a good starting point since some of them already have strong track records with their charitable works. Some 20 organisations will collect cheques this week in the first tranche of what will be a three-month exercise.
However, while all these organisations reflect the religious diversity of T&T, not all are known to have poverty relief as a strong element of their ministries. It is therefore important for enough checks and balances to be built into the initiative.
At a media briefing yesterday, Social Development Minister Camille Robinson-Regis was careful to outline the level of accountability required of the religious organisations involved.
Still, there is the matter of the ability of some of them to carry out this work given the many challenges that can arise with such endeavours.
This is where criteria used by the Ecclesiastical Division of the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Social Development for selecting these groups and determining their quota of this first tranche of $7, 970,297 comes into play.
It would defeat the purpose of this exercise if, due to administrative and other shortcomings, relief does not get to as many of the hungry as can be supported.
No person or family in need should be left behind.