Disabled senior in bid to help the needy

Bermuda has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world but behind the facades of our pastel houses, people are struggling to eat.

The reality of the situation is so bad that people are hitching rides from the east end to Somerset, just to pick up a bag of groceries.

One disabled senior has taken it upon herself to try to help the needy, by setting up her own ‘food bank’ in her own home.

Cynthia Joaquin, 71, said: “When you eat your dinner, please stop and think, ‘There’s someone out there who doesn’t have half of this’.

“When I grew up there was always plenty of food on the table; I didn’t have to worry about what my momma was going to give me for lunch or supper.

Something’s wrong

“So when I hear about children going to school without any breakfast or lunch, you know there’s something wrong.”

Ms Joaquin, who has mobility problems, says that by helping others, this also helps her to deal with her own problems.

“I was at home doing nothing, worrying about my sickness, so I decided to become a volunteer.

“But due to the problems with my legs, I couldn’t make it down to the Eliza DoLittle Society easily. So I decided to work from home. 

“I started calling around companies, trying to get food donations, and then I realized that some people in need of help couldn’t even get down anywhere to pick it up.

“A lot of people don’t have transportation and can’t get to the Eliza DoLittle Society.

“And the Salvation Army mainly operates from Hamilton. 

“I felt there needed to be more help in Somerset, so I decided to try it from home.

“But it’s not only Somerset, it’s all over. 

“Whenever I go to the grocery store, I see people asking for money. There’s a lot of scrambling for food.”

So she asked Margaret Ward at the Eliza DoLittle Society to help her with donations to start packing up bags of food from her home in Somerset. She also contacted wholesalers for donations of non-perishable items. 

“I’ve been doing this for about four months,” she said. 

“What I get, I give to the people that need it.

“I stack up brown paper bags and try to give people enough food to last them three weeks.

“At first I started off with six people, and by the time school came around (September) I had all sorts of people coming to me.

“I was packing up 50 bags of food and had people coming to my door at nine/ten o’clock at night.

“I had to stop that though, so told them, ‘If you want food please come between 10 in the morning and six o’clock at night’.

“They would say, ‘Someone told me I could come to you and get a bag of food’.”

Miss Joaquin said: “Sometimes I get about 60 people a week. I get people from Flatts and St George’s, Paget, Warwick and Southampton, all the way to Dockyard.

“They either get a ride and get someone to drop them off, or they walk.

“I also have 12 other seniors I’m helping.

“Food is the biggest priority for people. There are so many people out of work and the cost of living is so high, it’s really hard on people.”

She said: “Doing this for other people helps to take my mind off my sickness, so it helps me in a way too.

“I’m trying my best, and I enjoy it. I’m helping other people to have a meal on the table.”

Miss Joaquin is now hoping to gain charitable status for her food bank, entitled ‘Give Thanks to God’, and has set up a board to help her run it.