HSBC Malta Foundation is donating €30,000 to two NGOs currently aiding the most vulnerable in society and whose lives have been further complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The foundation is donating €15,000 to the Foodbank Lifeline Foundation, which has seen a 50% increase in the number of families seeking assistance and €15,000 to Caritas Malta, which through its Diaconia and social work units also provides food and social support to vulnerable families.

The Foodbank Lifeline Foundation, which in normal circumstances feeds over 130 families and individuals every week, equivalent to over 15,950 family members per year, is now supporting around 300 families. These additional numbers include previously registered clients, who have reached out to Foodbank Lifeline Foundation requesting help again.

In addition to this increased demand for its services, it also had to change the way it operated to safeguard the health and safety of both its volunteers and clients. As a result, it has consolidated operations into a single centre and following an agreement reached with a food delivery service, continued to deliver food to its clients while respecting social distancing.  
 
Similarly, Caritas Malta has had to adapt the way in which it works. This had been done to ensure that there was no physical contact as its volunteers, working hand-in-hand with Caritas staff, NGOs and parish Diaconia teams, continued to distribute warm meals, provided by a private foundation, to those most in need.
 
HSBC Malta CEO-designate Simon Vaughan Johnson hoped the donations would help make a difference to the more vulnerable.  HSBC is also offering the use of two of its electric vehicles for the distribution of meals, as part of its contribution to increase the number of delivered meals each day to 700.
 
HSBC Malta has also set-up the HSBC Family Support Group to provide essentials to employees in quarantine who needed medicines or groceries they were not in a position to purchase themselves.