There has been significant press coverage of active volunteer responses to the pandemic in Geneva, Switzerland. Stories in the New York Times, Guardian, and Le Monde have described a remarkably organized effort to support families suffering because of the lockdown with food and other necessities. The reports describe lines extending over a mile for a once-per-week distribution and rising numbers seeking support (about 3,000 families at last count). There are websites with photographs and numerous local news reports, press, radio, and social media. Volunteer mobilization has also extended to other Swiss cities.
 
The COVID-19 crisis revealed, as it has in so many places, the phenomenon of deep inequalities and poverty and vulnerability of mainly migrants in one of the world’s wealthiest cities. Because many do not have papers they have difficulty in accessing the generous services that are theoretically available to all. COVID-19 revealed glaring gaps in social protection.
 
How has this effort been mobilized? In Geneva it is led by the Caravane de la Solidarité, a Swiss association founded in 2015. Its focus has been migrants and hunger; many migrants came from the Balkan states, but the communities today are diverse with people from as far afield as Mongolia and the Philippines. The COVID-linked effort began in early March and initially faced official opposition from authorities because of lockdown restrictions. An outcry and mobilization of different organizations, public and private (Médecins Sans Frontières, for example, and some private companies), allowed the effort to thrive and expand, with a growing distribution. Donations of food come from all over Geneva, including some outlying municipalities. From this week, the Swiss government is assuming responsibility for the program.
 
This is not a religious enterprise, and religious commitments are not put forward as the primary motivation by those organizing and speaking for the effort. Geneva’s churches and mosques have been closed during the COVID-19 lockdown. Many of the usual networks and infrastructure of faith communities who regularly provide food has been rather muted. Many volunteers (some 9,000) have religious links, but this is not outwardly visible. One feature is that religious organizations tend to remain discreet in a country where state and church keep their distance, a pattern especially prominent in Geneva.
 
Meanwhile, several more specific faith organizations have expanded their work during the crisis. The Salvation Army provides food and has opened a hotel (shut during the lockdown) for the homeless. Caritas provides vouchers to buy cheaper food in shops, and the Protestant church movement provides food rations. In Lausanne, for example, before the crisis the Protestant church gave out 80 food rations. Today it distributes 350.
 
The Geneva experience illustrates a common narrative of community mobilization during the crisis, much of it coming rapidly and organically, with many different actors. The gaps in social protection are laid bare. In this case a long-standing organization focused on support to migrants has linked its efforts to various non-governmental organizations, private companies, and governments. The full statistics, even in a country as well organized as Switzerland, are not available, and exactly how much of what happens has a religious link is difficult to discern.

(Based on: April 21, 2020 Jakarta Post article; May 5, 2020, Le Monde article [French]; May 9, 2020, Guardian article; May 18, 2020, World Radio story; May 30, 2020, New York Times article; Ville De Geneve website; Serve The City Geneva website; and Photography Geneva website)