Children and needy get healthy breakfast in Cacoon, Hanover

WESTERN BUREAU:

The Cacoon Community Development Committee (CDC) has initiated a drive to ensure that the children, the aged and the needy are fed with breakfast on Tuesdays and Fridays. The CDC plans to extend this initiative to all weekdays, by serving them a balanced breakfast.

Cacoon is a farming community, with a number of its residents commuting to Negril and Montego Bay, where they work in the tourism sector. But with the sector being virtually shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many have lost their jobs, and the demand for farm products has shrunk.

President of the Cacoon CDC, Christeen Hooper-Johnson, a justice of the peace, told The Gleaner that the breakfast feeding programme started in March of this year, and since its launch, children and seniors from three adjoining districts have also been benefiting.

“Seeing the children with bag juice, sweet biscuit or a cake (in the mornings), that is not a ‘go-food’ or a ‘grow-food’ for them, and we want them to have bright minds. Our CDC team therefore came to the decision that a breakfast feeding programme, targeting ages two to eight years, would go a far way for them,” she stated.

“We launched the programme in March this year. When we started we got seven children on the first morning, but to date we feed 33 children each morning, also the aged and other persons who we know are in need benefit,” she stated.

She said that the programme is being run under the auspices of the Hanover Social Development Commission, to which the CDC reports.

ADHERE TO PROTOCOLS

“We do it two times per week right now, which is benefiting children from Cacoon and other adjoining districts such as Woodchurch, Richmond and Blenheim,” she said.

“We adhere to the protocols of COVID-19, so what we do know is to package the breakfast, as we have the names listed, and we ask the bike riders in the area to deliver voluntarily; and some parents will come and pick up the meals,” she informed.

The Gleaner was told that the meals are planned by a retired nutritionist who lives in the area, Valerie Francis-Malcolm, who also does weight and other necessary checks on the young beneficiaries, with a view to seeing how they are progressing health-wise.

Francis-Malcolm told The Gleaner that she uses World Health Organization standards to monitor the weight against the age of each child, to see if there is any case of undernutrition or overnutrition, and recommend the utilisation of the child health clinic in the area, where necessary.

“We work along with the Hanover Health Department, they are on board with us for medical intervention,” she stated.

She added that she makes sure that the meals served are nutritionally balanced, as it is the most important meal for the children for the day.

Hooper-Johnson pointed out that with the plans of the CDC to extend the programme to every weekday morning, the greatest need for its continuation is more financial assistance and sponsorship, adding that the Cacoon CDC is now trying to construct an area to be used for the storage of foodstuff which will be used in the programme.

“We have a few donors at present, and others who wish to donate can contact us at 876-371-1042,” she pointed out, adding that it would be good if residents in communities across the country could look out for each other, especially in this time of need.