Zen Arcade donates Rice and Beans to Raise Me Up
Saturday, December 13th, 2014
Rice and beans are staples to many Belizean households, yet several families in Ambergris Caye cannot afford these simple ingredients to make a basic meal. To address this issue, five women have created a non-profit organization called “Raise Me Up” in an effort to eliminate inadequate living conditions by fulfilling basic needs while raising awareness in the community. For the past month Raise Me Up has been distributing 100 pounds of rice and beans every week to underprivileged families on the island. Local business Zen Arcade saw a need to assist the organization and on Tuesday, December 9th, donated 100 pounds of rice and 100 pounds of beans to Raise Me Up.
According to Tara Darall and Noele McLain of Zen Arcade, a raffle was held to raise funds to buy the products. “When we heard about the organization and what they are doing to help the community, we immediately wanted to assist. We decided to have a raffle at our Christmas Party, and received several donations which we raffled out. Guests were invited to buy tickets at $2 for a ticket or $10 for eight. With the money raised we purchased 100 pounds of beans and 100 pounds of rice to give to Raise Me Up,” said Darall and McLain.
Accepting the donation were founders of Raise Me Up Kelly Blanchat, Kristi Gonzalez, Melody Sanchez Wolfe, Lori Drake and Jodie Bowen. “We recognized the need to help families in San Pedro, primarily single parent homes, who are struggling to put food on the table. We started by purchasing 100 pounds each of rice and beans, gathered in a living room floor, and commenced bagging. Each week a different member of the group would finance the purchase. When we found out that this week’s inventory was being donated, we were thrilled that the community is offering a hand in helping those in need,” said Drake.
The group has just been in operation a little over a month, but since then, they have provided weekly packages of rice and beans to about 50 families. “We package rice and beans into two pound increments and then head out to two developing areas of the island, San Pedrito and San Mateo. We go door to door, talking with families, and handing out the rice and beans. There was so much need, and this need is what started Raise Me Up. We are still in the very beginning stages at this moment,” said Drake.
To assist Raise Me Up, contact them via FaceBook at www.facebook.com/raisemeupbelize. You can either volunteer your time assist with bagging/delivery duties, help at the organization’s monthly sale, donate used clothing, toys, and household items for their monthly yard sale (all proceeds go towards rice and beans and bagging supplies) or make a direct monetary or inventory donation. Help is also needed in identifying families that are in need.
Zen Arcade would like to thank Winsom Winsom, Blue Water Grill, Big SUP Belize, Island Time Bar and Grill, Lone Star Cantina, Marbucks, Casa Picasso, Island Divers, Tres Pescados, Melody Sanchez Wolfe, Rubi Moon and the Orange Gallery.
Ambergris Caye Rotary Club gives back to the community
Thursday, May 12th, 2016
The newly installed Rotary Club in San Pedro has been actively seeking ways to assist the island community. Their latest project focused on education, engaging in community projects such as cleaning and beautification. The Club also completed a successful book drive in which they were able to collect thousands of books. The books were donated to the San Pedro Public Library, the Caye Caulker Library, Belize City Library, Seventh Day New Horizon Adventist School, Holy Cross Anglican School, Shining Star Pre-School, Brighter Tomorrow, Ambergris Caye Elementary School special needs class, Ministry of Education Resource Room and the Literary Program on the island.
The book drive was the highlight part of the project. After collecting the books, Rotary Club team members had the arduous task of carefully cataloguing each book before distributing them to the respective educational institutions. “It was a long hard week sorting out books, but all was made possible thanks to the efforts of members of the club,” said Rotarian Brittney O’Daniel.
According to O’Daniel, the drive couldn’t be successful without the assistance of a big donor. The very charitable Syme family made a donation of 4,500 books to the drive. Tallied with the community donations, the book drive surpassed expectations, with a total of 5,500 books collected. “It was an amazing success,” said O’Daniel. “I am overwhelmed by the response of the community contributing so many books.” According to her, about 2,000 of these books will go to the San Pedro Public Library, while the rest will be distributed to the assigned schools and educational institutions.
Besides the book drive, the Club was involved in other community activities which again included the education sector. “We also did some work at the Seventh Day New Horizon Adventist School, where we also donated books,” said O’Daniel. Some of the classrooms in the school were painted, while some carpentry work was done on the veranda of the cafeteria. The group also did a garbage clean- up in and around the school and many large garbage bags were filled. “We are just happy to help where we can,” said O’Daniel. At the end of the day the school had painted classrooms, cleaner grounds, and a stronger veranda at their cafeteria.
The Rotary Club is glad to be able to render this type of assistance to the community and they look forward to doing other community projects around the island. Early in March, the Club was able to donate five wheelchairs to the Dr. Otto Rodriguez San Pedro Polyclinic II.
Special acknowledgements go out to the Syme family for their great contribution, and Pam Preston who came up with idea of a book drive. To the team of volunteers Kaitlin McWhorter, Dee Regis, Jasmine Hartin, Michelle Nuñez, Dustin-Jodie Bowen, Jo Sayer, Eduardo Vasquez, Andrew Ashcroft, Susan Traverse Barkhouse, Callie Renee, Scott Barkhouse, Jason Malloy, Sarah Zashin, Britney Travis, The Banyan Bay Staff, Projects Abroad volunteers and all the donors who made this possible.