Panaji:  Covid 19 pandemic has disrupted many lives especially the daily wage earners. Their basic food requirements  is at stake and at times many families have gone hungry to bed as they couldn’t afford a morsel. To provide aid to such people, the founder trustees Beena and Martin of Bethesda Life Centre (BLC) based at Santacruz near Panjim Goa came forward.

They were moved by the predicament of such families especially families of Person Living with HIV (PLHIV) who are supported through the Sunflower project run by Bethesda Life Centre since 2004.According to Bethesda life center, over 50% of their 120 PLHIV have lost their livelihood during the recent curfew as they have been daily wage workers.

BLC decided to pay each of them Rs 2000 per month until the curfew period. Through the project, the PLHIV are provided with grocery items like rice, oil, wheat flour, dal, moong, sugar and rava every month which continues till today. Before the lockdown, those communities were encouraged by monthly Support Group Meetings followed by motivational talks and health checkups.

Beena and Martin have also donated 2500 injections worth Rs 4.6 Lakh for COVID-19 related treatment to the pharmacology department of the Goa Medical College Hospital.

Earlier during the 2020 lockdown, the organization BLC collaborated with Konkan Development Society, Odxel to distribute grocery items to needy families in Santa Cruz village. 100 families were identified and provided with one months’ requirement of grocery consisting of rice, dal, oil, wheat flour, onion and potatoes.

Seeing the plight of the stranded migrants BLC provided lunch packets to them at Old Goa.

Love for the human race is what drives Bethesda Life Centre. The trustees Beena and Martin Philip say that they will do whatever possible to alleviate the sufferings of people during the pandemic.

They are the real ‘Covid Angels” in these troubled times.