Emergency Food Box Program for DV Victims

It is unacceptable that people are facing increased hunger even when we are somewhat in the post covid era and it appears that we are returning to normal operations. 

This is not the case with employment as most companies, even those in the Hospitality Sector have not returned to pre pandemic employment levels. Also, many women and single women headed households with school aged children who earned their living by  buying and selling, making local value added products have lost their markets or were not able to recover from the extended state of emergency and curfews.

Hunger is not only unacceptable, but it hurts us all — hunger weakens individuals, families and communities by threatening their ability to reach their potential and fully contribute and be productive members of society.

Thankfully, with the support of donors we have provided food to two hundred and thirty (230) people, two hundred and one (209) women and twenty nine men (29) and a total of nine hundred and forty two (942) members of the households collectively for this reporting period. 

While we continue to provide food support to some there are those we cannot serve and those who continue to be food insecure. 

It's our goal to end hunger among gender based violence victims and survivors in Saint Lucian, but we can’t do it alone; we need your help. Working together, we can end hunger and create a better, stronger Saint Lucia for us all.

We as a country need to improve on targeting root causes of hunger to end this massive problem. We need to evaluate underlying mechanisms that are causing cyclical poverty and are making families stuck in food insecurity. At the same time, we must also ensure that we are aiding those currently in need. This requires an increase in awareness and ownership over the hunger problem we face as a society.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyone’s lives and access to food can be challenging if you are affected by the virus and have a change in circumstances.  

For the period October 2021 to January 2022, we provided Food Bags, Personal Care Bags for two hundred and twenty-nine women (229) women headed households based on data collect on number of persons in households a total of 528 benefitted from our food donations. During this time increased mental health support services to an additional twenty-four (24) women who are victims of gender-based violence and provided rental support eleven (11) clients, who are victims of GBV but also lost their jobs/livelihoods due to COVID. Additionally, we have stocked up on nonperishables for pantry to provide food support to select clients on an ongoing basis. A total of eleven (11) clients also received utilities bill support.

While we support a significant number of women, children, disabled and LGBTQI community members, access to food, ability to pay rent, utilities and digital devices and internet access is still a challenge for many families.

You donations are critical to our continued support of vulnerable and marginalized populations as we all continue to deal with restrictions, protocols and challenges of COVID-19