No spike in demand for welfare assistance- minister

Despite the mounting cost of living pressures, the Ministry of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs reports no significant uptick in Barbadians seeking financial or welfare assistance, according to Minister Kirk Humphrey.

Humphrey made the comment during Thursday’s presentation of $10 000 worth of food vouchers from Chickmont Foods Ltd to the ministry’s One Family Programme.

When asked about the level of support being requested by Barbadians during the holiday season, Humphrey noted that the number of individuals seeking help has remained steady in recent years.

“We have not really seen an increase in terms of the number of people who came forward over the last few years,” he said. “We’ve gone through the numbers, we were in estimates last week budgeting, and we were looking at demand this year as compared to demand last year. We have not seen an increase in numbers.

“What we have done over the year is that we have gone forward – what we decided since the back-to-school programme, is that there were a number of persons who come every year, people who are known to the departments, we set up a greenlight situation where a person who is known to the ministry or known to welfare, they get their support upfront. So it reduces the level of pressure.”

Humphrey, however, praised corporate Barbados for the level of assistance they have given towards the ministry, and specifically the One Family initiative.

He said: “Every Christmas we see a number of new entities [coming] forward, a number of small organisations who are also helping [to ease] the pressure at that level. Through the One Family we’ve seen significant support from Light and Power, Chickmont now, Sandy Lane Trust, JetBlue… a number of persons have come forward to help us carry the burden.”

Humphrey further elaborated on the ministry’s vision for transforming assistance into empowerment.

“You’ve heard us announce that we are going to be calling the new entity the Social Empowerment Agency. The idea is to move away from the concept of just being able to offer welfare cheques or food vouchers, to being able to empower persons. So it’s two-fold. I would like to see people who are in need coming forward to get the support, but we have not seen an increase.”

He acknowledged the commitment shown by families enrolled in the One Family Programme, emphasising its dual purpose of providing aid and fostering self-improvement.

The social care minister said: “I want to thank the families who are on the programme because this programme is not a programme where you just sign up and get things, you also have responsibilities too. We anticipated when we started the programme that persons would sign up for training, and they have done so. Many of our persons have done the training and gone on to jobs. We asked them to commit to counselling, and we’ve seen that behavioural shift in a number of our clients, and we are grateful for that.”

Ethan DeFreitas, marketing director of Chickmont Foods, said his company was pleased to donate to the important cause. “We stand out as a family-oriented company that values making a difference for our people, our community, and our future generations. It is with great honour that we contribute to your programme by offering these donations on behalf of Chickmont Foods. We are proud to support initiatives that align with our vision of one Barbados, one people, one family, and one love,” he said.