TEDS: Increased Need For Food Assistance
With the need for food assistance on the rise, the Eliza Dolittle Society [TEDS] is asking the community to donate food or funds as they said they are not able to handle the demand.
TEDS said that with the present unemployment rate of 8%, “over 3-6 percent of Bermudians [nearly 3,000 people] suffer from hunger to some extent.”
Executive Director Margaret Ward said, “We’re seeing a large increase in the number of people coming to the feeding centres that we support. We have a significant and growing need for food donations and volunteers at feeding centres.”
TEDS is urging Bermudians to hold food drives, help fundraise with their own event, or donate their time. “Hold a quiz night, have a food drive at your school, or volunteer to participate in our corporate cook offs, there are a number of ways the public can help support TEDS,” said Ms Ward.
“People don’t realise how much of an impact they can make. With feeding centres and foodbanks constantly running out of food, a little bit goes a long way.”
“There is a definite problem in Bermuda,” said TEDS. “Along with more people being unemployed, there is a growing trend of people who have jobs but are finding they cannot make ends meet. With increasing costs of living, people are having to choose between providing enough food for themselves or their families and paying the month’s rent or utility bills.
Ms Ward said, “There are plenty of people that have jobs where they are just not paid enough or aren’t offered much work. Requests from families and working Bermudians for food are happening more and more often; it’s hard to keep up.”
TEDS said that with “government budget cuts and the present economic situation,” other Food Aid providers are facing the same challenges, and they have been working together to more efficiently meet the food needs.
Originally founded in 2002 to address the needs of Bermuda’s homeless population, TEDS has since shifted from serving just the homeless to serving anyone in Bermuda who is food insecure and/or hungry.
TEDS has implemented a number of programs, the most prominent being their Daily Bread program launched in 2010. As a food rescue programme, they collect fresh, frozen and cooked food as well as non-perishable food daily from donors all over the island and distributes that food to feeding centres, foodbanks and other social service programmes that request it for community feeding.
“The problem is that after the holidays most people stop thinking about giving. We need food all year round”, says Ms Ward.
The most needed food items are cereals, canned meats, peanut butter, mayonnaise, canned milk, canned vegetables and fruit or fruit cups, macaroni and spaghetti, spaghetti sauce, canned soups. You can contact TEDS here on their website.
they should have food hampers at the local stores. fastest way
Come on Bermuda, lets assist if we can. I have many of these items in my cabinets and will be donating.
Most needed items …. mayonnaise.
Only in Bermuda.
Family Man, I am guessing it’s needed to mix with tuna, eggs, etc to make sandwiches. Is that all you got from the article? Unbelievable how cynical and cold some people can be. Shame on you.