Sustainability – new challenge for Start Bright Breakfast Initiative

Fresh from rewarding the top performing schools in its Start Bright Breakfast Initiative, organizers are busy focusing on the programme’s sustainability and full implementation in the new school year.

With just a few weeks to go before the August break, the Start Bright Breakfast Initiative is heading towards the completion of its pilot phase, which commenced last year and is now into its third and final phase.{{more}} Full implementation in all school districts, to include at least two schools in each district, is the next milestone projected for Start Bright.

Participating schools are also counting down to see who will become the first school breakfast champion and who will walk away with some big cash to start the next school year right. The School Breakfast Challenge Champion will see the winner walking away with a grand sum of $2,000. The Breakfast Grade Champion will receive $1,250 cash and the Breakfast Grade Teachers Champion $750.

The winners will be determined based on a number of variables, including who collects the most Tus-T empties, as opposed to other beverage plastic bottles. Recycling is an important component of the initiative and is one of the three pillars on which the programme is centred. Already the schools are rewarded for their outstanding performance on a monthly basis.

The Start Bright Breakfast Initiative is the brain-child of Tus-T Water. It was first piloted in November 2015 and the third and final phase will conclude at the end of the current school year. The programme aims to provide as many Vincentian children as possible with a nutritious breakfast to start the school day. By the end of the term, more than 4,700 breakfasts would have been served. Tus-T hopes to at least double this figure in the new school year, with the support of the public.

As the pilot of the programme comes to a close, founder and CEO of Tus-T Water Dwight Hillocks said the emphasis is on making it work better and maintaining its sustainability.

“We are pleased with where we are now when we look at where we started six months ago,” Hillocks said.

He is stressing the need for the public to become more involved, so that the programme can sustain itself. “We need the public’s support; [it] can’t be done alone. This is the challenge now,” he said.

Hillocks noted that the three pillars on which the programme is built need to be utilized to ensure its sustainability. These are recycling of empty plastic bottles and donating them to participating schools; purchasing of Tus-T water, where proceeds from sales are donated to the programme; and contributing $1 by texting 123 to 5466 on Digicel phones. Teachers are also being encouraged to promote their own school codes, so that individuals can support their schools.