The Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector (MCVS) is calling on the authorities to provide an emergency fund for voluntary organisations as demand for their services increases and funding lines dry up.

While the sector will be able to draw on the COVID-19 aid supplements, income usually generated from events or donations has drastically dwindled. Moreover, the workload of those that provide health and social services has rapidly increased, said the CEO of MCVS.

“We are calling for an emergency fund because we are really going to need to help sustain these organisations throughout the coming months,” explained Mauro Pace Parascandalo.

“Otherwise some won’t manage to cope and others will have no choice but to shut down and we are going to lose the work they have done over years which is extremely important to society,” he added.

Pace Parascandalo said he had received calls from various organisations ranging from band clubs to animal sanctuaries, and pointed out that they required help on a case by case basis seeing as the issues they were facing differed immensely.

“Some organisations have problems because their volunteers are over 65 and can’t help them anymore. Others, like animal sanctuaries, still need to feed their animals even if the regular stream of donations have dried up.”

For this reason, he said, the council would be sending out a questionnaire to voluntary organisations through which they attempted to closely monitor the situation.

On Thursday, NGO SOS also sent out a survey to voluntary organisations asking them to “identify possible remedial measures that could be adopted by public authorities or potential funders who could re-configure their support programs for voluntary organisations.”

Director Claudia Taylor East said that voluntary organisations were left in a state of anxiety by the authorities’ lack of provision for them.

“We’re going to have a big gap and we can’t expect the business sector to subsidise that shortfall that you have,” she said.

“Does this mean we’re going to lose a lot of organisations who have done sterling work in the community,” she asked.

In a statement later, the MCVS said a 24/7 hotline, number 7948 1120, has been launched to assist voluntary organisations. It had also set up an online helpdesk which can be accessed either directly here.

This service welcomes general and specific questions about the funds and services offered. Questions will be answered within 24 hours.