~ Writes to Minister seeking collaboration ~
Independent Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel has written to Minister of Education Rodolphe Samuel encouraging a collaborative initiative to establish a Central Kitchen to service the country’s breakfast program for children and possibly a lunch program in the future.
Emmanuel used the opportunity at the recently held debate on the country 2021 budget to approach the Minister with the idea. He stressed to the Minister that a long-term more sustainable approach is much better than the short-term remedy of throwing money at the recurring problem. “When the money runs out, we are back to square one,” he said, adding that the Minister seemed very receptive of the proposal.
“All over the world, including the Caribbean, central kitchens are becoming a more popular option for governments looking to streamline and expand their school breakfast or lunch operations whatever they may be. The central kitchen I proposed will provide healthy, sustainable, fresh, and local food to all schoolchildren in need of a good breakfast,” the MP said.
He explained that the idea of a Central Kitchen is straightforward: One location where all breakfast meals are prepared and shipped out to schools in the early morning hours. Preparing and shipping out for same-day service is efficient in terms of delivery at that time of day (no traffic) and also for food safety reasons.
The venue will house a large, well equipped and well-staffed central kitchen with employees trained to cook or prepare meals from scratch and supervised by a culinary school graduate perhaps from NIPA or Sundial, “would at long last enable us to produce and serve the kind of healthy, locally grown, freshly prepared breakfast meals our students need for optimal health and learning.”
MP Emmanuel said the construction could be a creative one using out-fitted containers in an attractive setup complete with a modern kitchen. “We really do not need to re-invent the wheel, there are several successful and similar programs. Employment is also created and contributions from local food producers will be central,” MP Emmanuel said.
“One thing is for certain – the well-being of our lowest-income students, who make up the majority of those needing school meals, cannot and should not be left to the availability of funds that have to be re-directed in the country’s budget. A central kitchen will depend on public-private partnerships or grants that bring money into the breakfast program rather than putting the financial burden entirely on government or schools/school boards,” the MP explained.
He continued: “I believe that the private sector would jump at the opportunity to fulfill their corporate citizen role by assisting our children and, by extension, their abilities to learn without worrying about a good meal to start the day. The program could eventually branch out to even offer hot lunches. I will throw my full effort behind this project by encouraging potential private sector partners to participate.”
The MP recommended as a first step the commissioning of a feasibility study. He said a feasibility study will explore the broader impacts a central kitchen could have on the entire community. Economic, environmental, and social impacts will be estimated for local farmers, businesses, restaurants, and other institutions that can contribute. He said such a feasibility study is a low-cost approach to help understand the potential benefits.
“Your Ministry has the resources and personnel to get this done and I am committing my time and that of my team to assist. I am not one to see a problem and keep doing the same things over and over and expect different results. We must embrace final solution approaches in addressing the country’s long-standing challenges. This particular challenge regards the children of St. Maarten and it behooves us to overcome this challenge with a creative and sustainable final solution. They deserve no less. I look forward to future discussions and actions on this proposal,” the MP concluded.
Click here for the letter sent to the Minister of ECYS.
