PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Sourcing your food supply, making the most of the food collected, maximising your distribution efforts, sharing best practices, building collaborations and ensuring that you are meeting the needs of your client base are just some of the interesting points that will be addressed at NPOwer’s first in the final series of workshops for 2021.
NPOwer in collaboration with Freegan Food Foundation invite all Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) that offer food distribution to sign up for this hour and a half workshop scheduled for Thursday, September 16, starting 6:30pm at R4CR/Samenwerkende Fondsen offices, located at Illidge Road #60, Unit 1.
NPOwer’s Alston Lourens reminds NPOs that space is limited to only 12 spots for the in-house workshop, however participants can be accommodated with Zoom via https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81552703618. He said this NPOwer series of workshops focus on building capacity within the local NPO community, so that these organizations can reach their potential and have the impact on society they hope for. “Even for experienced NPOs, these trainings can help modernize their strategy and the way they develop, I strongly encourage NPOs to sign up quick, as space is limited”
NPOwer is a program executed by the Foresee Foundation and funded by Samenwerkende Fondsen Cariben – Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius, Saba. For more information contact the NPOwer team at npowersxm@gmail.com or +1 721 523 9188.
With the end of food support by the Dutch and St. Maarten governments imminent, NPOwer’s Rajesh Chintaman said it is very important for NPOs to strategize, use their collective knowledge base, and develop a response to the threat of some clients losing their food supply.
Under the title: “Sharing Is Caring Information About Food Distribution” presenter Joost de Jong of Freegan Food Foundation will give participants an opportunity to get insight into their experiences, knowledge, creative and logistic methods of ensuring they meet their targets of supporting the needy with food and eliminating food waste on the island.
Freegan Food Foundation is a food bank, where supermarkets, manufacturers, wholesalers, companies or people donate their ‘waste’ products. Fruits that have no shelf life or a dented can, dry goods that are close to date or left-over food that hasn’t been sold by restaurants are collected and distributed amongst shelters, charitable homes, volunteer welfare organizations and the needy in general. The foundation actively promotes sustainability by preventing food waste, but also collects and distributes clothing, furniture, appliances, toys, books and anything that deserves a second life.
De Jong said, over their years of trying to reduce waste on the island, “we have learnt a few things and we believe that sharing is caring. So, with this workshop participants will leave with creative ways to manage food waste, negotiate with food suppliers, logistics in dealing with food distribution and overall creative hits and tips to accomplish food supply targets.”
“We at NPOwer believe in creative thinking, giving all parties a voice, and helping NPOs to tap into resources such as food and assisting each other. This approach is far more than receiving funding to buy food. This workshop will look at achievements and challenges faced by a food distributor to those in need. The outcome we seek is NPOs collaborating with each other and related stakeholders. This, we think, will bring creative solutions to the core basic need of food,” Chintaman said.
