Requests up, donations down

The HIV/AIDS Food Bank has seen an increase in requests for assistance this year, but at the same time donations of non-perishable foods have declined “a bit”.
Word of this came yesterday from food bank manager Stacia Whittaker, who said both developments could be attributed in part to Barbados’ economic situation.
She said the year started out well with donations from the World AIDS Day drive and the Love Poetry And Song concert filling the shelves for the first few months before things slowed down.
However, she said the bank was grateful for those faithful contributors who were committed to making donations throughout the year to assist more than 300 recipients.
“We have an adopt-a-shelf project, so we have churches and different service organizations which would commit to coming in and helping us keep a particular shelf full throughout the year. We still have those faithful contributors who we truly appreciate because without them it would’ve really been more of a difficult year,” she said.
Whittaker was speaking yesterday at the Vashti Inniss Empowerment Centre, Ladymeade Gardens, St Michael, where the investment and economic affairs divisions of the Ministry of Finance donated two baskets of food items to the programme. (NB)