Registration for Food Program underway - Netherlands provide € 2.5 Million funding

The St. Maarten food program that provides meals to residents in need is now accepting registrants thanks to funds provided by the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations to continue from where the Red Cross left off. € 2.5 million was granted for the program which ended in May. St. Maarten received the funds to start the program last week. According to Dutch State Secretary Raymond Knops, the program could not start immediately in May, due to lack of agreement and financial implementation from St. Maarten. 

The government of St. Maarten was given the responsibility to facilitate the program and the St. Maarten Development Fund is implementing it along with support from K1 Britannia Foundation, Freegan Food Foundation and COME Center. The funds were provided early June and earmarked for two months of support with the possibility of extending the program for another two months. The program is currently registering qualified households to review their eligibility to receive meal assistance. 

In his letter to the Dutch Second Chamber, Knops stated that € 85.4 million was provided to Curacao, Aruba and St. Maarten since May 2020. Given recent positive economic activity due to an uptick in tourism activities Knops stated he expects the number of people dependant on the aid to drop. He added that the Dutch are working to strengthen the islands' economies so that such programs aren't needed in the future.

Persons can follow SMDF for updates and register at foodprogram.sx. They can also Whatsapp at 1721-554-3219 or call 554-5209 for assistance in English, 554-4615 for Spanish and 554-3245 for Creole. The Ministry of Public Health, Social Affairs (VSA) and Labor has made its Community Help Desks available to SMDF to aid in registering persons physically on an appointment basis. During their execution duration, the Red Cross of St. Maarten assisted 4800 households with meals or provision.