Kooyman gives support

On Saturday afternoon, during an official ceremony, Barbadian children and those living through homelessness received support from the new Kooyman Megastore in Barbados through two donations totalling BDS $60,000.

During the official opening of their first Megastore in the Eastern Caribbean on Saturday, Kooyman presented cheques to Slow Food Barbados and the Barbados Alliance To End Homelessness, worth BDS $35,000 and BDS $25,000 respectively. The cheques were presented by Kooyman’s Store Manager Harold Stolwijk at the grand opening which saw thousands of Barbadians flock to megastore.

“Our sponsor and donation policy focuses on youth, education, poverty reduction and sustainability. Our support of these two organisations Slow Food and the Barbados Alliance To End Homelessness, meet all four of our sponsorship pillars. However this is more than just meeting those goals; we believe in these projects and their positive impact in Barbados...”

“...The educational garden initiative, Slow Food, will organize at the Milton Lynch Primary School in Wotton, Christ Church and will teach children the importance of growing their own food. And being a hardware store, we think we can definitely contribute to the shelter that was opened recently by the Barbados Alliance to End Homelessness,” explained Stolwijk.

Receiving the cheque for Slow Food Barbados was Administrative Co-ordinator Jennifer Ward-Clarke. Speaking to the media, Ward-Clarke outlined the work that the international organisation in Barbados, Slow Food, undertakes.

“In the Barbados chapter, we are involved in the promotion of good, clean and fair food. Good being delicious and nutritious food, clean being free of pesticides and inorganic fertilizers and fair being good prices for the consumers and the farmers alike. One of our main projects is promoting those concepts to the youth through our educational schools garden programme. We have seventeen gardens in schools and institutions around the island.”

The coordinator revealed that the funds would go specifically towards the food gardens programme in primary and secondary schools, to place more feet on the ground to ensure that all gardens have year round care. Also benefiting from the donation, including Milton Lynch Primary which is on close proximity to the store, would be the permaculture education programme. The idea is to instruct the youth as to how to better care for crops in drought conditions, using the permaculture techniques which do not need as much water to be successful.

President of the Barbados Alliance To End Homelessness formerly the Barbados Vagrants and Homeless Society, Kemar Saffrey collected the donation on behalf of the organization. Saffrey stated that the funds would be going towards the aid of sustaining the homeless shelter.

“We have about a BDS $25,000 monthly bill and this is coming from the fact that we are going to see more increases in the spending because we are flipping out beds 300 times per month. We also have to put in more security features, we are having to feed people more and take care of the homeless more.”

The President also brought to light that they care for women and children as well, which was never on the cards but now is a reality which they have accepted. The women and children live in the shelter and the organisation sends the children to school. Saffrey also lamented the problem of bureaucratic red tape which slows down other avenues such as welfare from helping those in need.