Reach within, A Grenadian charitable organization that supports at-risk children, has reportedly broken ground on what is labeled the Food Security for Trauma Healing Project.
It’s aimed at building capacity of wards of the state in
Agriculture, while also meeting personal nutritional needs of the wider community.
REPORT:
The initiative, valued at some 11,000 US Dollars, is funded by the Sandals Foundation and will see the enhancement and transformation of designated outdoor spaces at Father Mallaghan’s Home for Boys and Smiles Centre for Girls, into thriving food gardens through the implementation of soil regeneration techniques.
It also aids towards the creation of planters using recycled materials and the installation of water storage units to capture rainwater.
Much needed food from the gardens and other garden seed supplies will be shared with the Belair Home for Children and Adolescent Girls, the Dorothy Hopkin Home for the Disabled and the Queen Elizabeth Home for Children.
At-risk children, youth and adults with special needs will have access to nutritional produce and learn agricultural job life-skills while their professional caregivers will also receive quarterly training on regenerative agriculture practices.
Speaking to its strategic mission to strengthen the Caribbean’s food security efforts, Executive Director at the Sandals Foundation, Heidi Clarke, says “The Trauma Healing Project uniquely empowers a select group that is often overlooked within society.
There are no boundaries to skills training, she says, and no limit to what can be accomplished when it comes to facilitating an equitable space for all members of the community to eat what they grow, grow what they eat, and ultimately thrive.
Reach Within collaborates with the Child Protection Authority to provide trauma healing programmes for children, youth and adults with special needs who have been removed from their biological family homes due to abuse or neglect, and who are currently residing in one of the five residential care homes on the island or who have recently aged out.
Managing Director of the Child Protection Authority, Beverley-Ann Poyotte, expresses delight at the initiative noting, “Caring for young persons must take a holistic approach, and including such and activity into their lives, has far reaching benefits.
