Charity adds to annual Christmas drive

The Build Up Barbados Foundation has completed its third annual food drive for charity and according to founder Don Leacock, the charity was thrilled to have been able to add toys to the drive for Christmas for the first time.

“The cost of living is higher than it’s ever been before and we had an overwhelming amount of requests from all over the island for assistance, mostly from single mothers,” Leacock told Barbados TODAY.

“We do many food drives, back-to-school drives and toy giveaways throughout the year as well.”

He said that last month’s drive was an important one and was a huge success.

“We were able to feed over 100 people with the food drive, donated over 60 pairs of shoes and over 50 toys to communities in Chapman Lane, Bayville, Silver Sands, Scarborough in Oistins, College Savannah, the Pine and Work Hall, St Philip,” Leacock said.

The toys ranged from merchandise for toddlers, stencilling sets and LCD writing tablets, to action figures for teenagers.

Dress shoes, Crocs, belts and other back-to-school supplies were also distributed.

The sponsors for this year’s drives were Zouk Lounge, Atlantic Marketing, Zone Five Clothing, The Athlete’s Foot and Rachel McCartney from Terra Caribbean.

Leacock, a trained accountant, said his drive would have not been possible without the support of his team members.

“It took myself and six volunteers to pack all the hampers and traverse the island donating the hampers and toys,” he said, praising his team of Taraneh Azimi, Shaquille Drayton, Kiel King, Deshannon Robinson, Samuel Boston and Philip Father Philis King.

Leacock said there are big plans in train for the foundation this year.

“In 2024, we hope to roll out a number of structured youth programmes in association with YMCA and other charities, continue giving free access to sports for youth, continue fighting period poverty, and continue helping as many homeless and vulnerable people as humanly possible.”

The Build Up Bim founder expressed gratitude for the support for the Christmas drive.

Leacock said: “I just want to thank the general public of Barbados for embracing us: those in need who are comfortable being vulnerable in sharing their stories, those businesses, both large and small, who have constantly supported us with donations. As a young charity, we have already won Community Organisation of the Year for 2022 and hope to continue being one of the most impactful charities in the country going into 2024.” (MR)