COVID-19: $20M in food, supplies to CDC 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, under its Humanitarian Project, donated $20M in food and supplies to the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) to assist the vulnerable during the COVID-19 health crisis.

The Ministry of Social Protection recently launched its COVID-19 Assistance Project online which allows persons to register their situation and allows the CDC to prioritize and identify the vulnerable communities.

Application forms can be downloaded from the MOSP’s website at

https://government.gy/eform/241?fbclid=IwAR13qRixCT78YC8IxNEV5U8rc-37ffWVRLWDuwdUpJtmnpEcgf46k5FODnQ

Eligible applicants must submit the completed application forms online as well as the required supporting documentation.

Director General of the CDC, Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig in response to the donation said “it is timely and will definitely be given to those people who most need it and most impacted by COVID-19.”

He said the process of identification of the most vulnerable has started with a form developed by the Ministry of Social Protection.”

Once the system identifies the needs of the persons, the CDC will then allocate food hampers or vouchers as needed.

“We will try to have that voucher actually sent to people homes rather than them coming and congregating and defeating the whole purpose of social distancing,” the Director General explained.

Wayne Barrow of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints highlighted that the virus has impacted everyone and that the church will do its part in helping the vulnerable.

“COVID-19 is an event that was never planned for, never expected. It has impacted in a very negative manner the economy of the whole world.

“It has impacted our people, our citizens in ways that we can never imagine – I am talking about from a psychological standpoint.”

The church has been in Guyana for some 30 years now. Prior to COVID-19, the church has been continuously assisting the CDC with its response to the Venezuelan migrant crisis.

“It took 20 trucks to bring this here; in essence we spent about $20M on this for the vulnerable of Guyana,” Barrow said.

He spoke about another project that will start in approximately one week that “involves the frontline workers where the mask, the isolation gowns, the vitamins tablets, all of those will be on board to assist the CDC on this massive plan.”