When it began its Plant Project last month, the Miss Earth Guyana organisation planned to distribute 100 kits in regions Four and Five in order to get persons to save money by starting their own kitchen gardens. However, up to just over a week ago it had reached over 1,000 households through the initiative, which has also seen the distribution of food hampers and blood glucose monitoring systems.
National Director of Miss Earth Guyana Dave Lalltoo told Sunday Stabroek that the support his team has received has been overwhelming and acknowledged this as the reason the team has been able to reach so many families in need.
Over the past week the organisation began efforts to help vulnerable children from more than 120 families.
In the initial phase, families received potting soil, fertiliser and four seedlings. During subsequent phases that have been completed, kitchen garden kits were distributed in partnership with Youths on the Rise Guyana (YORG) while 65 vulnerable persons living with diabetes received blood glucose monitoring systems.
The most received phase entails providing the vulnerable children with fresh fruits, healthy snacks and a “kiddies” plant kit along with other items like diapers and face masks. The areas to have benefitted from this phase are Wakenaam, the West Bank Demerara, West Coast Demerara and the East Bank of Essequibo.
The 1,000-plus families to have benefitted from the initiative are single parent families and low income families.
Several non-governmental organizations as well as almost two dozen companies have collaborated with the pageant organisation. The Citizenship Initiative (TCI) presidential candidate Rondha-Ann Lam largely contributed to the food hampers. Namilco contributed their high fibre wheat flour while Prime Imports provided almost a million dollars’ worth of glucose test strips.
