Italian Red Cross teams relied on Defender when Covid-19 lockdown made life even tougher for Rome’s homeless people in a cold, wet winter.
The team was ready to help, in their Italian Red Cross Defender 110 loaded with hot meals, warm clothes and medical supplies. Touring the city, they offered help to people they found huddled in alleys and shop doorways.
Supporting the homeless in Rome was just one of the ways Defender helped local Red Cross teams make an impact in a year of unprecedented challenges around the world.
Inspiring humanitarians were on the ground in three continents at a time of crisis, coping with natural disasters, Covid restrictions and medical emergencies.
The Australian Red Cross supported more than 36,000 through a recovery program after devastating bush fires. Defender vehicles helped them stage exercises to prepare people for future emergencies and provide psychological support to those in mandatory hotel quarantine during the pandemic.
The Mexican Red Cross delivered life-saving training to isolated communities living a long way from the emergency services. Volunteers and staff covered 249 miles a day across challenging terrain to deliver vital first aid knowledge and equipment.
Defender vehicles in the UK took food boxes to families isolating in remote locations during Covid. They also delivered personal protective equipment off the Scottish mainland and supported the nationwide vaccine roll-out.
All the while Red Cross teams were still responding to emergencies across the UK such as house fires, winter storm damage and flooding.
JLR provided 267 Defender vehicles and other vehicles to help with the worldwide response to Covid-19.