To face humanitarian intervention it is necessary to be able to count on economic resources to support it. To deal with a first-aid humanitarian intervention it is necessary to be able to rely on those resources quickly.
INTERSOS, in response to its mandate, decided from the first moment to intervene in support of the most vulnerable in the emergency linked to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy, intensifying its mobile social and health activities in Rome and in the province of Foggia. If this has been possible, it is also thanks to the response of the partners who have chosen to support our work once again.
Already in the first two weeks of the intervention, we have collected the support of numerous foundations and philanthropic institutions. A real solidarity chain that has allowed us to receive the resources needed for our intervention. In pure order of response: LDS Charities, Fondazione Nazionale delle Comunicazioni, Fondazione Snam, Fondazione Monti Uniti di Foggia, 8 × 1000 UCEBI, Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation, E.J.Safra Foundation, 8 × 1000 Chiesa Valdese, Kahane Foundation. The constant support of UNICEF is also fundamental for our mobile team in Rome.
The funds are covering different types of extraordinary costs that the emergency response needs: from placement in alternative accommodation facilities for the guests of our INTERSOS24 Center, which is compulsorily closed, to the salaries of the medical staff and cultural mediators who have joined our team or who have multiplied their working hours. Among the materials, a substantial cost are the so-called Personal Protective Equipment, unavailable for certain categories of people if not distributed for free by our mobile medical units. The continuous and tireless mobility of our staff is possible thanks to the vehicles at their disposal, vehicles that need maintenance, insurance and oil to move around all day long, up to a radius of 70 km from the city in the case of Foggia.
“Thanks to the history of INTERSOS in emergencies, the answers came in those rapid times that are necessary to guarantee their effectiveness – underlines Cesare Fermi, Regional Director of INTERSOS Programs in Europe – And thanks to our stronger partners and new allies who have chosen to be at our side in intervening in favor of the most fragile categories such as migrants, homeless and socially excluded people. It is not simply a question of financial resources but, once again, of sharing humanitarian values and putting them into practice “.