The Complete Guide to Finding Help During a Pandemic in Trinidad and Tobago

The Complete Guide to Finding Help During a Pandemic in Trinidad and Tobago

If you’re in a Pandemic in T&T there are 4 main sources of assistance available to you:

Your Neighbourhood

In the community of Roystonia. Neighbours banded together and began a hamper distribution service. The neighbourhood’s Whatsapp group was very instrumental in organizing this. If you don’t have one for your neighbourhood, this should be top in your council’s agenda.

2. Your Local Charity

Charities do an immense amount of good work. As people came to us we resorted to forwarding them to the Charities That Were Actively Making A Difference On The Ground.

We suggested they have these 5 Answers Charities Need To Hear ready when contacting them.

We also saw corporate Trinidad engaging NGOs to create and distribute hampers. Almost like overnight charities.

3. Your Local Councilor

The councilor is responsible for all the persons in their electoral district. If you’re in need, you ought to Contact Your Councillor, as their responsibility is to harness the resources within their community, for distribution to their burgesses. We reached out to a number of councils, throughout the length and breadth of Trinidad, their contact information can be found here.

4. The Government

The government organizes national assistance schemes to aid persons and you can Apply For Aid Here as well.

Do not go to a large corporation! If you’re not a registered entity then large companies can’t justify giving cash, in a manner that they cannot legally account for. Large companies aren’t necessarily set up for charity and work much better alongside existing charitable entities.

Just as important as monetary assistance in a time of job loss and difficulty, is wellness support. During our on the ground research, we began chatting with Dr. Katija Khan, local Wellness expert and member of the UWI covid19 task force. From the beginning of the pandemic Dr. Khan actively shared videos on her social media platform helping persons cope with issues such as isolation, uncertainty, and crisis management. See here on Coping with a Pandemic: Resources from Top Wellness Experts, for more information.