By Kimberly Ramkhalawan
kramkhalawan@caribmagplus.com
March 23, 2021
There is concern today on whether the Bahamas Feeding Network will be able to sustain its support to the many hundreds who remain hungry in the Bahamas come the end of this month. Director of the Bahamas Feeding Programme, Phillip Smith says funding allocated for the period of June 2020 to March 2021 will run out, and is concerned about the number of persons that will have to do without.
Currently the BFN provides $80 dollar packages every fortnight, inclusive of a $20 value in meat certificates and $60 in grocery items.
Citing the downturn in tourism numbers on the islands since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason for the number of highly displaced persons in The Bahamas, Smith says he is hoping things will change by September, the same month he is requesting government to extend its funding to.
He says the taskforce refused a number of persons they were assisting, with a number of names being removed from the list. Smith says from his approximation, some 220,000 persons were in need initially and since then the number has dropped to 72,000 persons or 18,000 families. He says a number of persons were removed from the listing of recipients who should not have been removed at all. This means more funding is still required to support these persons as they still remain vulnerable.
Last June, the government gave some $36M to assist in hunger across the islands through its National Food Distribution Taskforce. The design of the taskforce was to ensure persons displaced from their jobs due to the pandemic were provided with meal sustenance. So far, the Bahamas Feeding Network is one of six NGOs under the Government’s Food taskforce charged with providing meals to families. Smith says some 25,000 families have been reached, while its focus remains on 17 of the islands except Eleuthera, Grand Bahama and Abaco from the help it has received from the government.
Apart from government assistance, Smith says the organization so far has received donations from Corporate Bahamas including Aliv, Super Value and Rotary Old Fort, while international acclaimed company, Royal Caribbean Cruise lines has provided some help. He says his marketing team intends to devise a campaign that would help in getting the word out to the public and international companies looking to come on board with assisting the Bahamian people.
The Bahamas Feeding Network was founded in 2013 with the aim of tackling hunger among the archipelago, working with numerous NGOs, Churches and soup kitchens to ensure food is distributed to those in need. Since then, it has grown from 54 member organizations to more than 100 feeding centres/programs in New Providence and the Family Islands.