Since my arrival in Belize I have been working with the Toledo School Feeding Committee, providing any assistance that I can. The Feeding Committee oversees the School Feeding Programs (SFP). Currently there are 13 schools throughout the Toledo District with School Feeding Programs, basically a school lunch program. Individual schools are responsible for their SFP, the Toledo School Feeding Committee helps to support the individual schools in numerous ways. The Plenty Belize GATE Program (Garden Based Agriculture for Toledo’s Environment) works hand-in-hand with the SFP. GATE works to establish organic school gardens, schools with a Feeding Program use the food grown in the gardens to supplement the school lunches. The remainder of the food is purchased by each school through the Committee.
Each year the Toledo School Feeding Committee organizes the Toledo Food Fair, this year the 3rd Food Fair was held. The Fair took place on Friday April 11th. Preparation for the event began months ago, many meets were held to ensure the success of the Fair. My role as the Plenty Belize Peace Corps Volunteer was to attend meetings, write letters, call participants, schedule meetings, and numerous other tasks.
The Fair began at 9:00am and run throughout the day ending at 3:30pm. Well over 1,000 children were in attendance. Each primary school from around the Toledo District was invited to create a display and sell food, most schools sold out! Local Non-Governmental Organizations, Businesses, Trade Schools, and Research Groups were invited.
In my opinion the highlight of the day was the Plenty Belize Home Garden Contest. Plenty Belize is always looking for new ways to encourage organic gardening and the Home Garden Contest does just that. Back in December we began advertising the contest, we had over 150 students from over 15 different villages involved in the contest. Prizes were awarded to the 7 best gardens, prizes included: $500 Scholarship to High School, set of garden tools(wheelbarrow, shovel, rake, hoe, matook), weed whacker, bicycle, school supplies, and many other items. I am really proud of all the participants, everyone work hard and really enjoyed themselves.
The Food Fair is funded through donations and through fund raising. The Committee organizes a raffle each year, I actually won a great cookbook through the raffle. It was a long day, but it also was a incredibly fun event which I am glad I was part of.
