The ‘giving’ spirit of a the Proprietrix of the Le Treat Bakery, Joanne Prescod, coupled with the organizational acumen of the Sonia Noel Foundation and Women Across Borders have set in motion an initiative designed to bring a measure of sustenance to at least some of the needy in some communities in parts of coastal Guyana.
The ‘Bread Basket’ is a relatively ‘low key’ but impactful initiative which sees volunteers taking to the streets to loaves of bread buns and sandwiches to whomsoever appears to be in need, a sign, perhaps, that the spirit of charity and giving with which Guyanese had once been widely credited is not ‘dead and gone,’ after all.
“When we were approached we did not hesitate to agree to come on board. We believe passionately in giving back. The mission of the group involved fits in with our mandate,” Prescod says.
Fashion Designer Sonia Noel who is at the centre of the initiative says that IIT was launched earlier this year was triggered by evidence that underprivileged persons were facing ‘tough times,’ accentuated by the economic repercussions of job losses and other misfortunes resulting in large measure from the advent of the coronavirus pandemic. Noel explained that it was “a simple matter of making available to volunteer community leaders and other members of communities leaders quantities of loaves of bread and assigning them to distribute the loaves within their communities. “The idea was to reach as far across Guyana as we could go,” Noel says. The distribution exercise became a ‘Friday mission,’ and the group was successful in rallying other individuals to the cause. As Noel puts it, it was a matter of “breaking bread with the less fortunate.” She believes that the initiative may well have made a more significant impact than one might imagine on the giving spirit that had been thought to be long dormant in communities across the country. What occurred, she says was “a domino effect result from the giving spirit of the volunteer team to say nothing of the generosity of the Bakery Proprietrix.
The volunteer group has attracted considerable praise for its initiative and recently the Sonia Noel Foundation has added a new facility to the gesture that allows a randomly chosen less fortunate family to benefit from a day of pampering comprising breakfast, lunch dinner and a storytelling experience. The idea, Noel says, is to “enjoy the warmth and comfort of a home setting.”
Persons wishing to contribute to this initiative can email soniaenoel@gmail.com or call on cell number 6848129.
