Help Pay Volmoed Staff Wages in lean winter months

REPORT: Volmoed Staff Support during Covid-19: 10 MAY 2021

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR GENEROUS DONORS! 

The staff of Volmoed Retreat Centre continue to be extremely grateful for all the support.  This was all made possible through the generous donations of many, via the GlobalGiving website. 

Almost five months in the year, South Africa continues to operate under lockdown level 3 restrictions.  Unfortunately, the number of Covid-19 cases has started to increase again in the past three weeks, and is now slowly heading towards a third wave of Covid-19.  Vaccinations are only just beginning later in May, as health care workers are the only sector that have almost finished being vaccinated.

Thus, the Volmoed Retreat Center continues to operate in these challenging times of Covid-19. This means that the larger groups of people we  need to come to our retreat center, have not returned and cannot return yet. Though we do have families and individuals making some bookings, we are on average less than half full. Yet thankfully we were full over the Easter weekend and a long weekend later in April. 

We had hoped to transition to more normal operations but this is not yet possible. Our income stream is still affected, due to cancelations of group bookings and the slow individual bookings.

This means that the Volmoed staff continue to work at reduced 60% salaries, for 3 days/week. It is a struggle and sacrifice for them, but they remain a dedicated team, and care for one another like a family. 

Thanks to the donations, Volmoed  continues to be able to help staff with particular needs.  One staff member has had medical problems that required her to go to hospital, and Volmoed was able to help with the hospital bills. The staff also receive a loaf of bread every week, thanks to the donations.

During the recent rain and floods, one of our staff houses on the property took in water, and there is damage to the roof. We are now raising money to do much needed repairs and also renovate the house, so that it is in better condition for our grounds manager and family. Most of the roads need repairing after the rains last week. There is much to do and not enough time, but we are grateful for so much support.

Thanks to all for the continued support and generous donations!

• Global_Giving_Staff_Support_Report_May_2021.pdf (PDF)