By Charminae George
Single parent households, elderly individuals and persons with disabilities were among those who benefited from a food distribution effort on World Food Day yesterday.
Essential items totalling EC$20,000, including fresh produce, poultry and hygiene-care products such as soap and toilet paper, were distributed to approximately 156 families across the country.
Over 30 business people and organisations partnered with the non-profit Adopt-a-Family programme to help the cause, and the effort saw many individuals assembling the food packages at the Multipurpose Centre before distribution.
Veldon Ragguette, founder of the ‘Adopt-a-Family’ programme, told Observer that the food package distribution is one step towards eliminating hunger in Antigua and Barbuda.
“Our motto is ‘eliminating hunger one family at a time’; we’re a bit off from achieving that but we hope today that we can achieve that for today, eliminating hunger,” he said.
Ragguette explained that the initiative has been ongoing for 25 years. However, the number of packages was increased from the usual average of 75 to 156 for World Food Day this year, which he hopes will eventually become the new average in the future.
He added that the food distribution programme has a no-cash policy, meaning that donations for yesterday’s cause were either done via payment to a supermarket for a specific quantity of food or via donation of a specific quantity of a food item.
The ‘Adopt-a-Family’ programme was started by Ragguette, a police officer by profession, in an effort to provide food to families unable to afford it and, by extension, reduce crime committed by some individuals in need.
The UN-designated World Food Day aims to raise awareness of the millions of people around the world who are unable to afford a healthy diet and highlight the need for unrestricted access to nutritious food, according to the website of the UN environment programme.
This year’s theme was ‘Water is life, water is food. Leave no one behind’. It shines a spotlight on the stress placed on the world’s water resources including the ocean, due to activities such as pollution.
As a result, many breadwinners that earn a living from the sea such as fisherfolk are unable to meet the basic needs for their family including food, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
