Thank you for donating to this appeal to help our local staff and their families during the Covid-19 outbreak in India. The situation was dreadful as ordinary people struggled to get the medical care and medicines needed for their loved ones, and health services became severely stretched. We are so grateful that the staff infected by the virus all survived. Thanks to your generosity we were able to supply them with medicines needed as well as PPE and supplements to keep all staff healthy.
We are at the stage now where things have settled considerably, and although we are always careful, the threat of Covid-19 is not so great. This appeal raised more money than was needed for the safety of our staff during the pandemic, which is amazing and shows how kind and compassionate our supporters are. As a result, we wish to use some of the money raised to make improvements to the lives of our staff, that are not Covid-related, and we want to make you aware of how the funds are to be used.
We will keep a General Medical Fund of £5,000 set aside to pay for hospital fees and medical bills for any staff that is sick or injured. We have a staff of 60 local people at TOLFA and for the last five years we have not had a dedicated staff room for them to their take breaks or eat lunch. We will use £4,000 to build a covered staff break area with seating and suitable drainage (for during the monsoon), where staff can take breaks away from the main hospital buildings. This amount will also cover the cost of building a covered area for the staff to park their motorbikes (the most commonly used transport to and from work), to protect them from the extremes of weather.
Lastly, we will use £1,640 of the money raised to pay for six months’ school fees for all staff with children in education. The cost of living is rising sharply in India, and we would like to ensure that education is not a necessary cut back that our staff are forced to make. This will be on a means tested basis with lower paid staff receiving a higher percentage towards school fees than higher paid staff.
From the donations raised for this project this leaves £2,200 which will remain as an emergency-only fund that will be used as and when at our discretion. We have been truly overwhelmed by the support we received in response to this appeal to help our staff during the Covid-19 crisis and we feel incredibly humbled to now be able to use the funds to keep supporting our staff in this way. We want to let you know that the donations you made then are still making a difference today. We hope that you will agree that what I have outlined above is a sensible and considerate plan for the donations you made. If you have further questions, please do get in touch with us at enquiries@tolfa.org.uk.
Thank you for your incredible support
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We have been overwhelmed and overjoyed at the support this project has received.
Our Indian staff are incredibly important to us; they are the very reason we are able to rescue and save so many thousands of street animals every year. Many of our staff have been with us for more than 10 years and are highly skilled in their jobs, able to provide treatment and care to different animals with a range of injuries and ailments.
The Covid-19 pandemic has been a very worrying time, particularly in a place such as India, which does not have a national health service and where situations can escalate and change quickly. When we set up this project there was a terrifying shortage of medicines and space at medical facilities. With your support we have been able to ensure that our staff that got sick could afford their care and we could take preventative measures to keep them safe.
We now have a fund we can use to help our staff and their families during these uncertain times that will enable them to receive the healthcare they deserve when they need it. For this reason, we have decided now to deactivate this project on GlobalGiving so that we can concentrate on fundraising for our other projects - to maintain the running of the TOLFA hospital and the Rescue and Care project, and to purchase a much-needed new Rescue Vehicle. Please do look at these other projects and consider supporting them.
Thank you once again
We really can’t thank you enough for donating to this appeal for funds to support our staff during the Covid crisis in India. Our staff are very special individuals who have all overcome their own personal challenges and, even so, are dedicated to helping those worse off than themselves – the sick and injured street animals.
It is heartening that you recognise this and were there to support them when it was needed most. Thankfully, all our staff who had covid-19 have now recovered with no lasting ill-effects. We know many people and families in our local community who were not so fortunate, and it will be a very long time before things can ever return to ‘normal’ again.
The response to this appeal to help our staff during the covid crisis was greater than we could have imagined. This has made it possible for us to set up a special fund for staff medical needs, outside of covid-related needs. This is something we have wanted to do for a long time and we’re very grateful that you have helped us achieve it.
The fund has already helped three staff members recover from accidents and illness and will also be accessible to our staff’s spouses and children. India does not have a free national health service and hospital bills can soon add up, forcing families into debt. (Loan providers can be unscrupulous and once in debt they make it very hard for working people to get out of it) With your generosity this will no longer be a worry for our staff.
Thank you for supporting our staff and making life easier for them so that they can concentrate on helping the animals.
We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
From all of us at TOLFA
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The response to our appeal for help for our staff during the Covid-19 Crisis in India has been incredible - thank you for caring so much!
The monies raised are managed by our own Medical Fund Committee and have provided high quality face-masks as well as two oxygen concentrators and pulse oximeters so we can monitor and treat the staff ourselves if hospital beds aren’t available. We have also distributed nutrition packs to our staff to help boost their immunity through their diet.
Fortunately, only 12 of our staff have so far had positive test results for covid and their symptoms have been relatively mild. The care provided from this appeal extends to the households of each staff member as most of our staff live in traditional extended families in shared homes.
So far 46 staff have received their first coronavirus vaccinations, and some have started to have their second ones. This is a huge relief, and our staff are back to working their usual work patterns while still maintaining extra hygiene procedures and social distancing.
The situation has improved for now, but we can’t be sure that there won’t be a ‘third wave’ that will cause more disruption and a rise of infections in our area. This fund for our staff will remain available to those affected for as long as the pandemic continues. Thank you for allowing us to provide this extra and vital support to the staff who work so hard for the animals here in India.
Warm regards,
Clara
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