Matara District Inter Religious Committee (DIRC) supplied dry food rations to six homes for elders and the differently-abled, which had not received any assistance from other organizations. The DIRC worked with the District Secretariat, which provided a list of families who were struggling without supplies because of the curfew imposed to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

The funds to purchase the dry rations were provided to NPC by the Canadian government through its Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) and supply and distribution was implemented through Matara DIRC.

“We usually depend on donations from various patrons for food but since curfew was enforced, no one was able to give us anything and this created a huge problem. We couldn’t go out to buy supplies either, so we are very thankful for this food from Matara DIRC and NPC,” Director of the Shakthi Ovitigamuwa Disability Home, Ms. Pramitha Wijayanthi, said.

“We were running low on food supplies and there was no way to get any food because of the curfew. We have had no milk powder for some time now so we couldn’t give our residents tea with milk. Since this is an elders’ home, it is important that we are able to give them the necessary nutrition, so we are grateful to Matara DIRC for providing us with supplies,” Director of the Senior Citizens’ Home in Thihagoda, Mr. K.L. Nihal, said.

Rs. 192,000 was allocated to Matara DIRC to provide dry rations to the homes.