San Pedro Tour Guide Association’s pantry program assisting almost 200 guides weekly

The San Pedro Tour Guide Association (SPTGA) has been looking after its members since the first COVID lockdown via a pantry program. The campaign continues, thanks to the many donors that continue to support the program, and every Friday the association provides food items to 180 tour guides.

The SPTGA began with this initiative following the first phase of COVID-19 in March, which ended with all jobs in the tourism industry of Belize. At the beginning, the SPTGA used its own resources to assist its members.

After doing a survey, they found out that around 250 tour guides, with boats, wanted access to fishing rather than being part of the pantry program, while allowing those most in need to benefit from the program. The food assistance consists of basic staples such as rice, beans, cooking oil, meat (chicken), dairy products, flour, and some hygienic products as well.

The association initially planned to open a GoFundMe page, however, they were allowed to use https://belizekids.org/covid-food-drive/, where additional information can be found about the initiative and donations can be made. To attract more donors and keep the program as long as possible, tour guides are asked to either provide names of potential persons that could contribute to the cause or they have the options to share the link in their social media accounts or send it to persons that they know can and would help. The association made it clear that the purpose of this method is to get everyone involved in this collective effort to get as much help as possible so they can perhaps increase the number of persons (tour guides) they can assist with food.

The tour guides thank the SPTGA for their efforts to assist in this critical time. They hope that tourism returns to the island, so everything returns to normal. That normalcy is even more uncertain now, as the initial August 15th deadline to reopen borders to tourists was postponed following a spike in cases. In the meantime, the SPTGA will continue assisting tour guides as much as they can during these difficult times.

Anyone wanting to help San Pedro’s tour guide with food are kindly asked to visit this link.