The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

SCORES of people waited for hours yesterday at Church of God Auditorium on Joe Farrington Road to receive food vouchers from the National Food Distribution Task Force.

The task force has been inundated with requests for assistance since Monday night, and a representative said more volunteers are needed to vet applicants.

Although seating was provided, individuals were in the hot auditorium with no air-conditioning. There were complaints of the slow process to receive the $50 Super Value voucher and the lack of social distancing in the crowded room.

Gejonte Miller, project manager of the Red Cross arm of the task force, estimated roughly 800 people came to the church but the group was only prepared for 500.

The project manager said applicants must register at rapidbahamas.com if they are seeking food assistance. Then registered individuals get a rapid ID number, a call from the centre to be vetted and are later assigned to a distribution centre and given a time and date to come.

“What’s been happening is after the prime minister gave his speech the other day persons are then either confused or have the wrong information and they are feeling that if they need food that they can just come to a food distribution centre without having registered and so that’s why we’re seeing an increase number of persons,” she said.

“We’re backlogged because overnight there were some 2,500 to 3,000 persons that would be registering overnight and. . .a call centre has to individually call and vet each one of these persons, it takes some time. We don’t have the manpower to actually be current with our list.

“We’re going to try to bring on some more volunteers next week so that we can have more persons at our call centre actually calling and vetting.”

Some in the queue complained about the process.

Ashley Evans, 32, said she has been at the centre before but said yesterday was unorganised. She had been at the auditorium since 5.45am yesterday, but claimed others who came after her were being served first.

“It is moving very slow, mainly because persons that came here after 8 were able to be served before the people that was here from five and six o’clock like everybody who came late was able to be served and the people who came here early to get the early numbers we’re still seating here,” she explained.

Tamika Oliver, 45, said she had been waiting since 6am, but when The Tribune spoke with her she had yet to receive a voucher.

The hotel worker is unemployed right now and doesn’t have any food in her home. She thinks the process for voucher distribution is not applied fairly.

“They give you a number but there’s still people here who ain’t had no number, walk in, get coupons . . . What’s the number process for if you aint gonna stick to that?”