Lions Club President Eldert Louisa (center right) and fellow Lions Club members deliver food items donated by distributor Divico to the Seven Day Adventist soup kitchen in Cole Bay. Photo contributed
St. Maarten News – The St. Maarten Lions Club has embarked on a program to help feed citizens in dire need of a daily hot meal. The program involves collecting foodstuff from various stores and distributing them among the soup kitchens that are operating throughout the island.
The initiative kicked off on February 9, with a visit to the soup kitchen served up daily by the Seven Day Adventist Church in Cole Bay, where Lions Club President, Eldert Louisa, and Past District Governor Lion Wally Havertong delivered a number of food items and also had a chance to see the feeding program in action.
One of the donors of food items that has already been promised is from Immediate Past President Lion Sunil Katnani whose company is Divico. “He has pledged regular donations to the soup kitchens of St. Maarten so that they can continue to prepare hot meals for those in the community who for one reason or another cannot get a good regular meal,” Louisa said.
He said although assistance has started with the soup kitchen in Cole Bay and more recently another facility in the Dutch Quarter area, the idea is to extend the service club’s efforts across a much wider field with the assistance of other donors and the untiring efforts of his Lions Club board and committee members.
“It is our intention to visit all the soup kitchens to encourage them to continue to do the good work they are doing for our citizens and also to go one step further by providing them with food items to add what they are already serving,” Louisa said. “We have spoken to the people who do this important work and it is clear that there is a serious need. The Lions Club can help whenever possible. Our members were quite shocked to learn about the extent to which people are going hungry on St. Maarten.”
St. Maarten Lions Club donate to soup kitchens
