Start Bright breakfast initiative making progress

School breakfast is now a big deal in St Vincent and the Grenadines. Indications are that the Start Bright school breakfast programme is working well. Twelve schools in six of the 11 school districts have been participating in the Start Bright breakfast programme (a Tus-T Water school breakfast initiative) and the positive results are already being noticed. These include improved behaviour, better academic results and regular school attendance.{{more}}

Some 2,380 breakfasts were served between the end of November 2015, through the entire February and March school term. During this last term (phase 3 of three) of the academic school year, plans are in the making to provide an additional 2,400 breakfasts. Sixty more children are receiving the most important meal of the day and are now able to start the day on full stomachs. In addition, a growing meal menu has been rolled out. This involves a collaboration between Tus-T Water and other participating brands.

Founder and CEO of Tus-T Water Dwight Hillocks is encouraging the community to get involved, so that the breakfast initiative can surpass its reach and provide breakfast to more children than are currently being served.

Hillocks says, “By getting everyone involved we can eventually get every school on the programme. To begin with, expanding the programme to at least two schools in every school district; that will bring it to just over 100 children a day starting their days with the most important meal during the 2016 – 2017 academic school year. It is at that point the nation will see at least 4,000 breakfasts being provided per school term.”

According to Hillocks: “In order to accomplish the goal of helping more children start their days with the most important meal and improve academic performance, we need to help the schools sustain the self-sufficient sustainable school breakfast through their own contributions.

“The pilot has shown that it works and it can only be sustained with the continuous participation of the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines,” he adds.

There are three supporting pillars that have been designed to help sustain the Start Bright school breakfast initiative. These are: recycling of empty plastic beverage bottles and giving them to participating schools and drinking Tus-T water, where proceeds from its sale will be returned directly to the school breakfast programme. Persons can also contribute $1 by texting 123 to 5446 from their Digicel phones.

The ultimate goal of the Start Bright Breakfast Programme is a future where no child in St Vincent and the Grenadines starts his or her school day on an empty stomach.