ORDER OF MALTA EMBASSY TO SLOVENIA

SOVEREIGN MILITARY HOSPITALLER ORDER OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM OF RHODES AND OF MALTA
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EMBASSY TO THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA

THE SOVEREIGN ORDER OF MALTA IN SLOVENIA
Report on the utilisation of donated funds towards meeting the needs of the distressed during the Covid-19 epidemics up to 18th July 2020

Content
1. Order of Malta in Slovenia 1.1 Structure
1.2 Activities

2. Donated Funds
2.1 Background
2.2 System of Disbursement

3. Action Taken
3.1 Allocation of Funds (chart; data field: item, item-qualifier, sum) 3.2 Beneficiaries (list, description)
3.2.1 Deliveries to Lords the Sick and the Poor (method)

4. Output and Results Achieved (photographic material, description)

5. Lessons Learned (bullet points, description) 5.1 Statistics (data fields: location, man-hours)

6. Next Steps, Call for Funds (outline; data field: needs, locations, predictions) 7. Conclusion
7.1 Special consideration

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1. The Sovereign Order of Malta in Slovenia

In Slovenia, the Order of Malta is represented by four entities: a) the Embassy of the Sovereign Order of Malta as a fully accredited diplomatic mission in the Republic of Slovenia, b) the Slovenian Association of the Order of Malta as a functioning limb of the religious and hospitaller Order comprised of Slovenian members, c) the Order of Malta Aid Slovenia as the national humanitarian organization of the Order comprised of Slovenian volunteers and d) ‘Ustanova malteški križ’ (transl. Institution of the Maltese Cross) as an economic sub-organization of the Slovenian Association.

1.1
The Slovenian Association has 33 listed members (all in the Third Class, all but one on the level of Magistral Grace, the exception being a Dame of Honor and Devotion), the current Board was elected in March 2019.
The Order of Malta Aid Slovenia (OMAS) lists just over 100 members, with the majority of members to the west of the Koper-Murska Sobota demarcation line. OMAS functions through a national coordination of its members, with three sections established in their proper dioceses (chron. Murska Sobota, Koper and Ljubljana-Gorenjska). OMAS has the status of a humanitarian organization. ‘Ustanova malteški križ’ is a panel of six members of the Order who act in an advisory capacity in regard to economic matters and oversees the Order’s property (a flat in Novo Mesto).

1.2
In addition to the religious duties of its members, the Order of Malta focuses on humanitarian activities of providing aid in material and service to people in need (collecting and distributing food and clothes for families in need and unattended people in rural areas; attending to residents of homes for the elderly with a specific contribution to homes for elderly priests; attending to sick, elderly or disabled people in their homes; providing a scope of summer activities for Roma communities in NE Slovenia (financed from public funds via annual call for applications/ tender to the Foundation for funding humanitarian organizations; it is also the only activity to be funded through a public program); providing basic hospitaller service to pilgrims (shrines of Brezje, Sveta Gora, Turnišče, and the Ljubljana Cathedral).
The Order of Malta in Slovenia is also an active member of the Coordination of Caritative Institutions established and managed by the Slovenian Bishops’ Conference.
When circumstances dictate, help is provided on call (answering calls of distress from Slovenians abroad; in 2020, a case of an injured Slovenian in the Philippines and a patient in Italy).

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In 2020, activities of OMAS spread to providing assistance to repatriates from Venezuela, whom the Slovenian Government has welcomed to the country (a family was housed in the flat owned by the Slovenian Association in Novo Mesto; two repatriates were employed by a private enterprise on the Order’s bidding, food and clothes are provided and additional help being actively sought).

2. Donated Funds to support activities during the Covid-19 epidemics

In early April, the Ambassador of the Order to Slovenia H.S.H. The Prince of Windisch-Graetz agreed with the President of the Association H.E. Dr. Tadej Jakopič and the OMAS team the prospect of the Embassy raising funds to support OMAS activities in the time of the Covid-19 epidemics. The long experience from the Order’s involvement internationally provided a suitable base to determine elementary provisions for the activities to run safely with a chance of providing adequate help to those in need.

The Embassy and in particular, Counsellor Hugh Malim of the Embassy of the Sovereign Order of Malta to the Republic of Slovenia, was in charge to organise, on behalf of the Embassy, the donations and their disbursement and authorization for purchases of the project.
The total sum of funds collected up to now and made available without any cost was EUR 31,300.00 plus sanitarian goods made available by His Holiness Pope Francis and international generous donors as well food and goods by the Chairman Tomislav Cizmic of Mercator d.d. Group.

2.1 Background
The outbreak of Covid-19 saw the humanitarian activities of the Order in Slovenia constrained by the rapid spread of the infection and the measures put in place by the authorities. Even though OMAS has a confirmed standing with the Civil Protection and Disaster Relief (distinguished in 2014 during the natural disaster emergency and awarded the Civil Protection Decoration in Bronze; distinguished in 2015 during the refugee and migrant crisis), the authorities did not employ OMAS on the national scale, therefore all activities were limited to respective municipalities.
The activities included obtaining provisions and medications for the sick, elderly and disabled, providing nursing for those affected by the anti-Covid-19 measures, providing assistance in several parish churches (disinfecting, helping the faithful to remain within the scope of the protection measures).
The organization and management of activities had to be brought down to the regional or even local levels, which also affected the established channels of sourcing and funding.

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The scope of needs included PPE (protection masks, disinfectant and gloves), both for OMAS volunteers and those we take care of, including the staff in their institutions. There simply was not a provision in their budgets for an adequate supply of PPE and several services were thus threatened by a shutdown of their operations.

2.2 System of Disbursement
The following system was agreed by the Embassy and OMAS: donations were to be collected onto the Embassy bank account and OMAS notified of the sum available for disbursement. The President of OMAS was to compose a formal request supported by actual quotes for material or service. Hugh Malim would inform OMAS of the decision and instruct the payment to be executed from the Embassy bank account. OMAS was in charge of receiving the goods or services ordered and responsible for quality control. OMAS was responsible for the goods or services to reach beneficiaries. The coordinator of described OMAS activities was Roman Vučajnk, Chancellor of the Slovenian Association of the Order and Secretary of OMAS together with all the OMAS team.

3. Action Taken

After the Government declared the state of national epidemics in March, official forecasts were limited to short timeframes and were not fully reliable. Therefore, in addition to the official channels, information had to be harvested on the field from volunteers and people in their charge. This method required additional time to process and analyze for OMAS to translate the needs into requests for quote from goods and service providers.

The method resulted in a detailed list of beneficiaries and their needs supplemented with approximate price ranges. The list was used as a basis of the Embassy-OMAS joint venture.
All quotes received were then inspected and checked to weed out all improper offers, as the market in PPE took a less reliable route either in price increase, drop in quality or through false advertising. OMAS did not deviate from the set of guidelines: quality product or service to provide to our lords the poor and sick, fair price-quality ratio, reliable delivery.

OMAS had developed a well-tuned channel for purchase of food, household maintenance items and personal hygiene products via Mercator Cash&Carry. A separate contract was negotiated between Mercator and the Embassy with all available contractual benefits obtained by OMAS transferred to this particular contract.

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3.1 Allocation of Funds
Request letters to the Embassy were composed after quotes were checked and confirmed by their respective providers.
The Embassy paid special attention to avoid delays in the examination of the requests and communicated their decision promptly, thus allowing for a continuous flow of activity. The OMAS team has been ready to proceed with the order once a request had been approved and delivery details were negotiated with the provider. The economical approach towards delivery time and shipping costs was observed whenever possible by the OMAS team taking care of the transport of the goods.
Table 1: Allocation of funds (on 10 July 2020)

PPE

Protective masks: 15,000 pieces
Disinfectant: 270 litres in application ready dispensers Protective gloves: 19,800 pieces

Food, household items, personal hygiene products

Healthcare items

4 sets of glucometres + blood pressure monitors supply of bandages, antiseptic, sterile patches

Protective clothing

15 sets of protection trousers, softshell jackets and heavy-duty protection jackets (Aid & Rescue standards)

17,106,04 EUR

5,796.79 EUR 958.31 EUR

4,455.71 EUR

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Activity support 608.95 EUR Order of Malta labels, protection wrapping, printing supplies for branding

Amoun disbursed (as of 10 July 2020) 28,925,8 EUR

3.2 Beneficiaries
Beneficiaries were selected according to the information harvested by volunteers and compared to already existing lists of people in need. Due to the circumstances, the list included several institutions whose work was essential for the general population during the epidemics, however had trouble setting up budget for additional supplies of PPE, which was mandatory for the continuation of their work.

Table 2: Beneficiaries Beneficiary

Home for elderly priests:
a. Petrov dom, Šempeter
b. Mane Nobiscum, Ljubljana

Radio Ognjišče TheFranciscansofBrezje(GuardiansoftheShrine)

– for the use of the community and visiting pilgrims

Convent of Sisters of Poor Clare Society of Jesus, Maribor

Privatekindergartens(withnoaccesstopublicfunds or subsidies to purchase the necessary PPE):

a. Kindergarten Jurček, Grosuplje
b. Kindergarten Sončni žarek, Škofja Loka c. Kindergarten Kajžica, Kranj

OMAS volunteers

OMAS First Aid Room (Brezje)

Aid provided

Healthcare accessories, Personal Protection Equipment (protection masks, gloves, disinfectant), Food

Personal Protection Equipment PersonalProtectionEquipment

Personal Protection Equipment Personal Protection Equipment Disinfectant,suitabledispensers

Personal Protection Equipment, Protective clothing (trousers, softshell jacket, protective jacket, for 15 volunteers)

Crutches (3 pairs), Personal Protection Equipment

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OMAS activity in Slovenian Istria

OMAS diocesan section Murska Sobota and Ljubljana-Gorenjska

Homantiarian organization ‘Zveza sv. Vincencija’ (for work with homeless people)

Families in need (20 families)

3.2.1 Deliveries to Lords the Sick and the Poor

Healthcare accessories (glucometre, thermometre, blood pressure metre), Personal Protection Equipment, healthcare supplies (antiseptics, bandages)

Healthcare accessories (glucometre, thermometre, blood pressure metre), Personal Protection Equipment

Disinfectant

Food, toiletries, household cleaning, healthcare supplies

All deliveries were made according to customs established and promoted by the Order of Malta in view of the ancient and continuing Hospitaller manner: aid is being delivered personally by OMAS volunteers to the beneficiaries with full respect of dignity and position of the latter, whom members and volunteers of the Order of Malta hold in regard as lords the sick and the poor.

Deliveries were agreed upon in advance and wishes or requests of the beneficiaries acknowledged. Institutions were visited and donated goods delivered with explanation of the source and funding. Where possible (which was possible for most of the cases), families were invited to participate at the purchase of food, household items and personal hygiene products. The intention was to provide them with a possibility of choice within the allocated budget and category of items, as well as assistance at shopping. All shopping events were arranged beforehand, thus the families were able to consider their needs and prepare appropriate shopping lists.

In a couple of cases, members of the families were not inclined to do the shopping, but asked for the goods to be delivered.

All beneficiaries were asked for permission before taking photographs. They were also explained that photographs would be used as feedback to the donors and, if appropriate, for further fundraising. It was also made clear that personal data would not be disclosed.
In a couple of cases, OMAS volunteers cooperated with the Karitas organization (on the parish level) and Zveza sv. Vincencija. The reason behind was a better service provided to the lords sick and the poor.

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4. Output and Results Achieved (photographic material, description)

4.1 Homes for elderly priests
Residents of the homes are retired priest and are being taken care of in the capacity usual for such establishments (accommodation, meals, resident healthcare provision). Due to the private status of the homes, they were not legible for any form of government or municipal assistance during the epidemics and their funding depends entirely on donations. The residents had no options available (to move to another location or lodgings during the epidemics).
Furthermore, PPE has been an important issue for the staff (caretakers, cooks, nurses) as there were no budgetary provisions for the items, let alone the quantity needed.
The donation enabled the management of respective homes to continue providing adequate service and protection to the residents, as well as an opportunity to approach the budget restructuring in a less stressful manner.

4.2 Radio Ognjišče
The biggest and most important Catholic broadcasting company in Slovenia faced difficulties by a steep drop of funding during the epidemics. The national authorities developed a set of measures that included a high-level of PPE usage, which translated to a significant increase of costs to cover the need for the staff while performing their duties
The donation enabled the initial bridge-over for the company to avoid disruption in their mission

4.3 Religious communities
Smaller religious communities outside the urban centres were significantly hit by the epidemics, as an important part of their funding comes from smaller production enterprises or types of service. PPE shortage led to an increase of prices, which the communities experienced in a paralysing manner. The community of Franciscans in Brezje are Guardians of the national Marian shrine there and needed help to overcome the initial restrictions at providing assistance to visiting pilgrims. Even though numbers dwindled, a significant mass visited the shrine every day, therefore had to be provided with PPE. The Order of Malta maintains a presence at the location; we staff and manage the Laic First Aid room with teams on duty every weekend between June and October every year.
The donation in PPE was a crucial help to their activities and mission.

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4.4 Kindergartens
During the Covid-19 epidemics, kindergarten and schools were closed . Immediately after the state of the epidemics was brought to a lower level of risk, businesses restarted and parents needed day-care for their children. Kindergartens which opened, however had to maintain a high level of protection (disinfectants, protection masks). Public institutions were taken care of by the national or municipal authorities, while private institutions were left on their own, even though they provided the same level of daycare service. During the epidemic the children remained at home, which also meant a significant drop of income, thus the budgets were even tighter.
The donation had to be tailored to their specific needs (in this case disinfectants are being used by children): dispensers were chosen with minimum levels of risk for further infection – dispensers with sensors, which provided a regular amount of the disinfectant to the user (a child) without the need to actually touch the dispenser. Furthermore, the dispenser can be filled with soap and used in a similar capacity, if the need for the disinfectants decreases.
The donation provided the ground for the kindergartens to remain operational despite tight budgets and for the parents to be assured of the daycare facilities to be safe for their children.

4.5 OMAS volunteers
During the epidemics, OMAS volunteers provided a scope of service to those in need: purchasing and delivering provisions, disinfecting common rooms, churches, staircases in blocks of flats, etc. To keep the risk of spreading the infection at minimum and to remain safe themselves, PPE had to be provided for the volunteers, as well.
Even protective clothes had to be obtained, as they are easier to maintain through more frequent cleaning or washing than regular clothes.
Quality and certified sets for 15 volunteers were obtained from a German supplier which provides for the German Malteser, as well.
Four sets of portable glucometres and blood pressure monitors were added to the existing medical kits to be used during visits of the elderly and disabled to avoid serious consequences in case regular ambulance was not readily available.

4.6 Families in need
The epidemics caused many businesses to cease their operations, which resulted in many employees being either put on waiting or laid off. Their lack of experience in searching for government program of support and the general conditions during the epidemics pushed many into an economic free fall that went along with rising possibilities of unsound mental conditions in households.

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The aim was to locate such families and offer support in the form of a couple of months worth of supply of food, household (cleaning) items and personal hygiene products to lower the pressure on the families while they looked for alternative sources of income.
During the activities, the aim was amended to include a few families bordering on difficult levels of poverty, as well.

Information about the status of families and their condition was obtained through direct contact, local OMAS volunteers and local humanitarian organizations (for example, Karitas). Each family was contacted, the donation possibilities explained and action taken. They were asked to think about the shopping list and were invited to the nearest Mercator Cash&Carry outlet on a set date, where a budget would be assigned to them and a team of OMAS volunteers would help them select and transport the goods.

The aim was to include the families on as equal as possible basis, instead of letting them feel they would have received handouts out of pity. The feeling of shame is very present with people in need, especially those who recently had to accept a turn to the worse in their lives. That is also one of the reasons for personal and social approach to those in need, rather than limiting humanitarian aid to stacking goods on shelves in a center for the people in need to visit and use.

In the frame of this particular donation, families from Gorenjska and Štajerska regions were aided with the addition of a dozen elderly individuals from a remote rural part of Slovenska Istra.
Most of the beneficiaries were willing to share feedback for this report, however, some were reluctant to do so and did not want neither to be identified nor exposed in any manner.

For reasons of data protection, their full names are exempt from the report.

Maja is mother of six, her two eldest children having finished secondary education and the youngest is still a toddler. The donation helped them to ease the stressful efforts of providing elementary nourishment for the family, at least for a couple of months. Her second son was about to quit his further education to get any sort of employment and contribute to the family budget, but with the donation and a part-time employment provided by the company of an OMAS volunteer, he is looking forward to continue his education. He decided to pursue the profession of a healthworker.

Sabina is mother of six, her eldest child is a pupil of a secondary school, her youngest is still a baby. OMAS volunteers did not find out anything about the father. They live in a flat and have to economize and agree to a schedule to be able to use a couple of desks to write their school assignments. During the epidemic, the children used an old laptop to be able to follow lectures over Zoom. Due to the lack

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of space, they had to use their small balcony to carve a period of relative quiet; during bad or cold weather, they had to share the room with the baby. Despite the difficult circumstance, they manage to earn good grades. The donation helped the mother to provide basic supply of personal hygiene products for her children (the assigned OMAS volunteer paid special attention to select some basic but quality For-Her products and provide a moment of personal relaxation for the girls, while the boys were happy to enjoy some selected meat products they can otherwise not afford).

Marinka lives alone, OMAS has no information about her absent partner nor about her only child (a grownup). Her circumstances were pointed to the local OMAS volunteer by the parish Karitas. Marinka lives alone in a house in the middle of a cul-de-sack of a village in Gorenjska. At first glance, her house is not so different from her neighbours’, perhaps the small garden could use more attention and the rusty fence would benefit from a new coat of paint. The Karitas volunteer had visited her and at one point was invited in (according to very basic information, Marinka needed a job to secure a source of income and thus got in contact with Karitas). The house was covered in mould and decay, moisture was beyond any control and usable living space was shrinking rapidly. The Karitas volunteer and her husband managed to provide materials and their time to refurbish the essential part of the house and OMAS agreed to provide for a supply of food, items for household maintenance and hygiene products, thus Marinka could be put more at ease and could concentrate on finding employment in the post- epidemic period.

The goods were delivered to Marinka at her house one afternoon when the Karitas volunteer was there finishing with setting up a small, but functioning kitchen sink. Marinka was happy beyond her words and it took time for her to be able to speak to the OMAS team that day.

Zorica, Vanda, Marta and Milka are mothers of families from the same rural settlement under Pohorje in Štajerska, a region traditionally steeped in poverty and underdevelopment with hard-working people mindful of expenses and whatever they consider unnecessary luxury, which can mean everything but the very basic things to survive. Not surprisingly, the region is affected by alcoholism and domestic abuse, none of which was noted in these particular families. The epidemics even stopped the employment of a small numbers of grown-ups who worked as low-level workers. Very low incomes have to cover the bills, petrol and food. The latter was covered by the donation, thus some money could be saved for the coming months and the families can focus on finding employment.

Zorica’s family includes three generations: her and her husband (she has no income, he receives a small monthly pension), her daughter is unemployed, her son-in-law is the only bread-winner in the family. There are two children – their daughter attends a grammar school and their son in elementary school.

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Vanda is ridden with illness and cannot hold onto a regular employment. She has a daughter and they both live with Vanda’s mother, who helps their ends meet.
Marta is a single mother and raises five children. Her employment took a turn for the worse as the company she works for was affected by the epidemics. All of the children are doing very well in school (the eldest is a university student, the others are pupils of secondary and elementary school) and are active members of their local Scouts.

Milka is a retired invalid living off a minimum pension. She provides for her granddaughter, because the girl’s unemployed mother is often away.

An OMAS volunteer from Slovenian Istria notified the central office about twelve elderly locals in need who live alone in isolated houses scattered through the hills of inland Slovenian Istria. Due to alarmingly low local prospects, their children had already moved to Italy or further, while the epidemic brought all travel to a standstill. The elderly people are even too old to grow vegetables in their gardens, cannot take care of their hygiene properly and those with medical conditions cannot rely on constant and punctual medical service due to the lack of medical staff in the region.

The OMAS volunteer therefore visits them, treats their sores (diabetes), monitors glucose and blood pressure levels and provides food.
The donation of food, hygiene products and healthcare items helped the elderly people in need to bridge the epidemic (and the immediate post-epidemic period). Due to their personal request, even their first names are omitted from the report (two of them even announced they would refuse the aid, if photographs were taken). Their contact details thus remain with the OMAS volunteer for track record.

4.7 In mid-June, Hugh Malim from the Embassy took the opportunity to visit some of the beneficiaries and receive first-hand experience concerning their work and further needs.

4.8 Photographic material
(link to the photographs to download: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2on9wahpf9wpi9o/AABRi6- KbKJSanTntrtbCTlJa?dl=0)

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Families in need

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Home for elderly priests in Šempeter; the donation delivery was taken care of the local OMAS volunteers and a Magistral Chaplain of the Order of Malta.

Home for elderly priests in Ljubljana; on the morning when the donation was delivered, the Archbishop of Ljubljana was visiting the

community and learned about the Order’s activities. Father Franci Trstenjak, Director of Radio Ognjišče received the donated items

PPE items donated

received by Father Robert, Guardian of the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians in Brezje

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Items for healthcare services that OMAS volunteers provide to our Lords the sick and the poor.

A dispenser that works on sensors, so children in the kindergarten do not have to touch it in order to disinfect their hands. The dispenser can also be used for liquid soap.

Hugh Malim of the Embassy visited Sončni žarek, a private kindergarten in Škofja Loka, where he was received by the children. They offered a very warm
welcome with song and flowers.

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Items donated were fixed with a Order of Malta label. On the picture, a daughter of an OMAS volunteer is helping attaching the Order of Malta labels onto disinfectant dispensers.

The biggest Catholic weekly edition was keen to write about the donation.
Media (mostly on intenet portals) ran several articles about the donation and how well it was received. Several important media built upon the existing and continuing involvement and help of the Order of Malta.

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OMAS volunteers preparing to deliver the goods to the beneficiaries.
Due to restrictions and limitations during the epidemics, OMAS volunteers did not hesitate to use and employ their private facilities and family members to the storing, re-packing and distributing of the aid.

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5. Lessons Learned (bullet points, description)

Limitations imposed by the anti-Covid-19 measures increased the load of OMAS volunteers on a local level
Local OMAS groups (in many cases individual OMAS volunteers) had to substitute for the lack of a national organizational infrastructure and provide for provisional store-room, logistics and additional transportation. The quota of man-hours at their disposal was thus burdened by activities usually done at higher OMAS levels of management.

An agreement between the Sovereign Order of Malta and the Republic of Slovenia would allow for a more flexible structure of operations resulting in more volunteers’ man-hours available for the field assignments.

VAT exemption for the COVID-19 purchases.
The Embassy had hoped to be allowed a VAT exemption for the operation, however, the request was unsuccessful and between 9% of the budget allocated for food and 22% of the budget for other goods had to pay VAT.
A targeted set of negotiations was thus conducted parallel to the activities covered in this report to win better business circumstances; however, due to the limited number of volunteers, the negotiations were sporadic and on a basic level. Nevertheless, they have resulted in a positive outcome (one of the healthcare products provider released a spur-of-the-moment donation by supplementing the items ordered and provided enough supplies to cover a several-months need of an invalid in our care; the pharmacy that provided sets of healthcare products agreed to a permanent 10% discount on the Order of Malta orders).
Branding and visibility played an important element in the communication with the providers resulting in a positive outcome.

Cooperation with other humanitarian organizations
The lack of volunteers on the ground due to restrictions led to an increased level of cooperation, primarily with Slovenska Karitas (on the operational level of parishes rather than dioceses or even the national level). Combined resources in transport and delivery enabled the teams to process all deliveries on time and within economy guidelines. The cooperation extended to a permanent state of information exchange regarding the people in need and their needs in particular, as well as to an optimized shared pool of resources, even if the latter is in its basic stages.

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Level of administration
Due to the completely volunteering nature of OMAS, there is no standing administrative staff to handle back-office tasks in real time.
A workflow examination is recommended to establish, whether there are possibilities to decrease the number of administrative tasks in the system of disbursement.

5.1 Statistics
Locations covered with the donations:
Ljubljana and surroundings, Šempeter, Brezovica, Škofja Loka, Grosuplje, Brezje, Cerklje na Gorenjskem, Šenčur, Nazarje, Kranj, Turnišče, Murska Sobota, Lovrenc pod Pohorjem

A separate record of man-hours put into the project was not kept due to the dynamics of the activities during the epidemic and due to the lack of dedicated back-office personnel. Nevertheless, estimated 2,270 man-hours have been put into the project.

6. Next Steps, Call for Funds
Given the current knowledge about the infectious disease, it is highly possible that similar circumstances (a second wave of the epidemic) may recur. Combined with the post-epidemic worsening of the general economical situation, all systems have already been invited to prepare for further activities in that direction.
OMAS has already been approached by people in need, who recognized the organization during providing aid within the scope of the activities covered by this report and is set to provide further aid and assistance – in essence, this stands for the continuation of the set of activities described.

Special attention needs to be given and dedicated action steps taken to approach a wide range of potential donors and secure a flow of donations in EUR or available items and products (food, personal hygiene and household maintenance). All entities of the Order of Malta communities have to work in unison to optimize the outcome.

Next steps should probably be directed towards parts of Slovenia not approached so far: Dolenjska, Posavje, Spodnja/ Srednja Štajerska, Notranjska.

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7. Conclusion
The Order of Malta Aid Slovenia (OMAS) demonstrated its ability to respond to people in needs in short period combined with relatively fast organizational development in difficult circumstances (setting up and roll-out within weeks during the epidemic).
OMAS again stood its ground in the proper Hospitaller tradition of serving our lords the sick and the poor, and doing so with best possible attitude towards cooperation and with maximum flexibility to achieve better results.
Activities shed light on areas, where lack of experience and skill could be addressed by proper training, an upgrade of the structural network and volunteers’ equipment.

7.1 Special consideration
The Ambassador H.S.H. Prince Windisch-Graetz, Minister Counsellor Prof. Alberto Bochicchio, Counsellor Hugh Malim and Secretary Matjaž Žigon of the Embassy of the Sovereign Order of Malta to the Republic of Slovenia have provided invaluable help to the people affected by the epidemic in Slovenia. Their instant response to the needs and positive attitude to finding best solutions in providing the aid resulted in a seamless flow of provisions to the affected.

All members of the Order would like would like to emphasize the involvement of OMAS volunteers Franci Bukovnik and Gorazd Pavlek. Their unselfish and unwavering dedication to the project, combined with honed skills and expertise, resulted in the project being rolled-out in much improved circumstances than initially expected. Several crucial beneficial negotiations were conducted by them and optimised cargo routes established that secured more funds available for purchase of the goods for our lords the poor and the sick.

It is beyond doubt that that both, Bukovnik and Pavlek, demonstrated virtues, abilities and perseverance of model Order of Malta volunteers, combined with exemplary Hospitaller attitude towards the people in need.

The Sovereign Order of Malta in Slovenia, would like to offer its sincere and heartfelt thanks for the most generous response to the “Request for Donation“ to all the donors for their support and we hope very much to be able to count for further support in the future.

Ljubljana, July 19th 2020

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