06/01/2018

Bahamas Feeding Network to host Steak-Out Saturday, July 7 to assist in providing 3,000 meals on a weekly basis to those hungry among us. Volunteers of the Network are pictured distributing food to those in need.

A humanitarian organization known for feeding the poor and hungry wants to feed you.

On July 7, the Bahamas Feeding Network (BFN) hopes to pull off a Herculean feat – selling all 3,200 tickets at its first ever steak-out slated for the pre-Independence weekend from noon to 6pm at Moseff House, the BFN’s headquarters in Fox Hill, next to the Fox Hill Police Station. 

For this latest fundraiser, BFN has set for itself a lofty goal, even for a non-profit known for making the miraculous happen every week when it prepares and delivers 3,000 hot meals along with nearly 400 bags of groceries to more than 120 churches, soup kitchens and feeding centres around The Bahamas via a network starting with only 13 organizations.

Ticket holders will have the option of steak or chicken dinners at $12 a pop. 

“It’s one thing to give loose change or a few dollars to the homeless, it’s another to really take the bite out of hunger,” said Philip Smith, BFN’s executive director. “For this steak-out, we would also like to sell tickets in big blocks of 20, 50, 100 or more to corporate citizens, civic clubs and individuals. They, in turn, can distribute their paid dinner tickets to whom they see fit.”

Founded in December 2013, by H.E. Frank Crothers, Ambassador from Malta and the Vatican to The Bahamas, the Bahamas Feeding Network has a simple albeit powerful mission to eradicate hunger in The Bahamas.

For those who cannot attend but still want to support the event, BFN will take donations. 

“We’re extremely grateful to the organizations who have stepped forward to donate food items and the manpower essential to making the mammoth undertaking a success,” said Smith. “We anticipate that these donations will offset the cost for staging this event, allowing all proceeds to be used in continuing to provide for the preparation and distribution of more than 3,000 meals weekly.” 

BFN serves as a hub for the collection and distribution of food items along with financial and physical resources to entities serving thousands in need – the faceless one in eight Bahamians, statistics suggest go hungry daily in this vacation paradise. 

The extent of poverty in The Bahamas is far greater than most people realize. Hundreds of people queue for food at Great Commissions Ministry, The Salvation Army and dozens of other charitable organizations tasked with not only feeding the downtrodden, but providing hope to the hopeless.

According to government statistics, up to one in every eight people living in The Bahamas goes to bed hungry with the poverty level set at $11.24 a day. Organizers and supporters of the Feeding Network say one of their most important missions is to ensure that the elderly and children do not go hungry.

Donations have allowed the Feeding Network to acquire four vans to assist in food deliveries throughout New Providence. The Network supplies food vouchers to partners in several Family Islands.

“The comfort a plate of hot food brings is something most of us take for granted,” said Smith. “We all have a role to play in the fight against hunger.”

To purchase tickets, persons may visit the Bahamas Feeding Network at Moseff House or call 676-2336, 324-8353 or 456-8353.