Representatives from the various children’s homes and retirement homes that received state-funded bread from the bakery of Stichting 1 voor 12 have not received any deliveries since January 1 due to the fact that the foundation has run out of funds for this program.

The director of Huize Campagne told Times of Suriname that she would have no choice but to keep the children home next week if no solution is presented. She hopes that the government will start paying at least some of the money that it owes 1 voor 12 so that the deliveries can be resumed. “Yesterday I gave the children rice but that will deplete our budget faster because we haven’t received any money for food from the government for the past couple of months,” said the director who added that she is thinking about going to the government agencies with the children to ask for help.

An employee from the Esther Stichting explained that “it is a heavy blow because the foundation currently has to buy its own bread for its residents.” Last Thursday the residents received some bread that was left in the freezer. The employees warmed the bread in the over and also cooked some porridge for the residents. “But cooking porridge is not the solution because not everyone likes it. I deem it awful that the delivery of bread has stopped,” said the employee.

The employees at Huize Albertine also made it clear that they need bread for the residents. The representatives from the children’s homes and the retirement homes that received state-funded bread via Stichting 1 voor 12 are praying for a miracle and hope that the government will transfer the funds so that they can once again receive bread.

“We hoped that the deliveries would not stop because mister Vismale had repeatedly announced that he would stop but he started using his own funds to finance the deliveries. It is painful when the delivery van does not show up to deliver bread,” said the representatives.

Louis Vismale, chairman of stichting 1 voor 12,  deemed it painful that  he had to stop delivering bread but explained that he currently lacks the funds. The government stopped paying for bread 9 months ago. Because of this children, senior citizens and people with a disability can no longer receive bread. “I had hoped that the government would at least pay the subsidy for the past 5 months so that I could keep delivering bread.