Still waiting for food
Despite the available online options to order food items and the measures in place for ‘in-need’ persons to seek free food packages, some residents are still unsure where their next food supplies will come from.
A number of residents indicated via social media on Tuesday, April 21 that their attempts to access food from either government-sanctioned welfare agencies or through online supermarket purchases have been unsuccessful to date.
They shared their concerns while responding to a BVI News social media post on what has been the experience of residents since government extended its 24-hour lockdown for another seven days.
Cannot get gov’t hotline or supermarkets
One resident, Chayan Richardson, responded on Facebook that she had attempted ordering supplies and even calling the government hotline, but was unsuccessful.
“Have been trying to call,” she stated. My mom needs meds and I’m not getting through. Been calling [but] not getting through with ordering or the government line.”
“My mom has preexisting conditions. She cannot be without her medication. I pray that stress and insufficient supply does not start affecting people’s lives,” the seemingly concerned resident added.
Ordered but no items yet to be delivered
Facebook users Tracy Myers and Melrose White said they were successful in placing their orders via online shopping, days ago. Both, however, are still yet to receive their items.
Myers said she had ordered her items since Saturday, April 18, while White, who said she is yet to get a reply from the establishment where she shopped, had ordered her items the following Sunday.
Another social media user Santa Gaton shared a similar experience, stating: “Since Sunday night they took all the information from me and I still have no answer … I out of water and food.”
Connie Alexander, in the meantime, said she doesn’t mind waiting until the elderly and children are sorted.
The Carrot Bay resident shared that she has been waiting for her items since paying for her order at 2 am on Sunday.
Deliver by area
Another resident Penney Gitonga, in the meantime, is advising that the supermarkets create a system that does their deliveries community-by-community.
She said: “Baffled by the delivery system with RTW. Apparently, it’s in alphabetical order so my neighbours got their order but we didn’t.”
“A good idea would have been by area delivery? Kill two birds with one stone and not waste fuel,” she suggested.
Riteway Food Market and OneMart Superstore have now both issued notices on their websites stating that further online orders will be on hold until current orders are processed.
In the meantime, 24-hour curfew period is not anticipated to end until Sunday, April 26.
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It’s so sad to see what people have to go through just to get food or medication *sigh* what is more sad is that people who really really need the help are not getting it..while others are going around posting for help and accepting from different individuals…I mean come on if someone offer you a case of juice and let’s say a bag of rice(let’s say that’s what you were asking for), why are you still sharing your post over and over and getting the same things from different people (I think that’s being selfish and greedy)
Simply ameteur logistics . Of course the route the delivery vehicles by neighborhood . Call it being professional
We finally got the food but had to meet the delivery person because he got lost, and didn’t know where the place was?????..so imagine if you don’t have whatsapp or not to good with cell phone.
Good luck
Imagine already paying for food and days later you still can’t get it. If you can’t fulfill the order why take the money. Now people are stuck because they don’t want to be unfair and request food through Government assistance cutting someone share short after they already paid for food and they can’t order from the other store because the one store already took their minimum $150 to place an order.
You can register at https://bit.ly/BVIcovid if you cannot get through to the Hotline 852-7688.
I registered since saturday night and today wednesday nothing. My friend registered Sunday he and his wife lost their job they have four children and no food. Yesterday he had to add water to some carnation milk to have enough for the kids to have a little conflakes they had remaining. As of today no food what should such a father do.
That’s serious, I pray that household gets what’s needed soon but honestly that’s a serious situation that needs more than food to fix
Total waste of time. Thank God I have a little something to eat , I feel it for people who don’t have and with children. But if the government can’t see the loopholes who am I because they are not listening. I’m sure people who are getting those are the ones that don’t want. Also why is only 2 supermarkets in this program every supermarket should be in it so as to ease the burden.
Residents shopped for two weeks and have been lockdown for 2 weeks that was extended for another week. The on line system of procuring food is severely flawed. The infrastructure and logistics is not in place to do online procurements efectively and efficiently. The supermarkets/food stores should have been allowed to open from 6:00 am to 10:00 p.m. with seniors, other special needs people and frontline warriors, ie, medical workers, fire, police……etc allow to shop from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. Except for the 9th District, shopping by district would be hard to manage, ie, identifying who live in what district.
The first initial of “title” (surname) though not a perfect system would have been a better plan of action. Nonetheless, for the plan to be workable, 100% identification would be required. Each shopper should be given a number that had to be given to the cashier at checkout. In this iteration, shopping should have been limited to staples.
By the time anything reaches me, weather it’s government or what I purchase days ago, Ill be long dead. Ssssshh, ok ,ok stomach, don’t cry.
My word, so this is what extreme hunger feels like? My mouth is constantly running white thick foam, this must be the side effects of what they call GRIPE.
We were on the right track and drop the ball with this last lock down. We have to open sometime or the government going to have to start paying businesses and staffs half their salaries and income .
This is a disaster the government make a Lott s**t people have hungry
Yesterday my neighbor call me and told me she call a lot to the supermarket and doing a order she don’t get nothing yet and she’s children’s have hungry so the food finished in she’s house
This is becoming ridiculous! Even people who were lucky enough to have placed their orders on sunday morning were told they will not be receiving them untill wednesday or thursday. Even in countries with more cases then bvi, people atleast have one day per week to shop based on their id numbers. This is now almost a month of lockdown with only one day to shop.. And on that one day we waited in lines for up to 8hrs, with no social distancing because it was not possible. We shopped for 2 weeks, not 3! And some of the essentials were limited, like water or eggs.. Now when they reopen again there will be crowds and lines, counter effect of what they tried to achieve.. Good job
Govt taking then best measures it can.
However, if one person dies as a result of this lockdown that will equal the deaths from Covid19.
Govt needs to revisit the plan. They have been well intentioned but wrong in severity of measures at every step.
I totally agree that the plan needs to be revisited. I hope the leaders have enough courage to admit the plan was well intentioned but inadequate. We need to change models to incorporate social distaancing, masks, antiseptics and the ability to shop, exercise and work with all safety precautions monitored and enforced. Too many people are being hurt in a variety of ways by this current plan.
Government can’t give everyone food,they have neither the organization or the man power and many will go hungry
there was no need for government to give everybody food if they would have let people shop for groceries. now we have chaos which will only get worse.
This imprisonment is inhumane. People will die.
Govt / gov we look to you to look after us, yet you sentence us to misery and death. God help you when the reckoning comes.
Ok I understand everybody thoughts, yes it’s okay to open the store if we can act and behave properly. There is alway some foolish person causing fight in line why the police have to be constantly shuting down the store. People we are adult and we should act like we are big people and not like children. That’s part of our biggest problem another thing people need there space and some of us is not giving us our space they say arm lenght and yet people down your throat. You all need to stop and behave. One more thing shop with a conscience think about each other while shopping
I think we will die from hunger instead of corona
Its so sad. You having eaten, lets just say for 2 days and you are in extreme hunger? Be grateful people. Hon. Premier, please let them loose. When someone in their family catches the virus or whatever it is causing sickness and DEATH, then they will beg to be locked down.
The supermarkets did not have enough essential food items to shop for two wks. Supplies that wr got have ran out. We need assisstance
What we are going through people live like this everyday. Growing up my mother stretched the milk with water . We eat bread. We boil water and drink. We mek do. Nothing from the government. And there were more than three kids. Let’s be good stewards of what God bless us with. Let’s start saving up for rainy days. Plant food.
This is crazy.
They are coming! They have a good system in place once you register. I got my package today and I was sooooo grateful and impresses as I registered the night before!
I purchased groceries and have not recieved them to date. So thank you Government for being so efficient until I receive my groceries.
Some of the things I received I never thought about. This package was well thought out.
You were just lucky. I registered since Saturday, nothing!
I filled out my application since Sunday night and i haven’t seen nothing as yet and i have two small kids the struggle is real
Can u imagine since sunday night we fill the form to get the food page to is thursday i anit see no one call or evev bring a box what kind of thing is this people wake .people hungry….pleople need to go out and do ehat ever they could to make money
I know of three people, one is old, two are manual workers, who do not know how to browse the web. They use their phones, one has whatsapp, none of them have facebook. So all they could do was phone for a government box.They really have no choice. Not everyone is computer literate or even interested in being so.