Tus-T Water Start Bright Breakfast Initiative prepares for new school year

The Start Bright Tus-T Water Breakfast programme continues to grow by leaps and bounds, after a successful run during the 2016-2017 school year.

Some 395 students are now on the programme, in which 75 schools are participating.

Almost 48,000 breakfasts were served up to the end of the academic school year. During the second and last terms of the academic school year, four of the 75 schools participated in a pilot involving 10 children. It was all part of a test to determine what it takes to scale from five children to ten per school and employing four women to prepare the meals. According to Tus-T CEO Dwight Hillocks, the test was a huge success.

“We have found some ways to offset the expense of preparing these extra meals without compromising quality,” Hillocks added.

“Pretty soon we expect to reach the boundary of 95 per cent participation of the nation’s schools in the programme,” he noted.

The public is being encouraged to continue to support the programme by purchasing Tus-T water. Every purchase of a bottle of Tus-T water contributes to the cost of preparing a meal, under the Tus-T Breakfast Initiative.

According to Hillocks, if each household in St Vincent and the Grenadines commits to purchasing at least three bottles of Tus-T water each week, then this will go a long way in helping to sustain the programme and so ensure that fewer of the nation’s children go to school hungry.