Over the past nine weeks since the start of COVID-19 in Belize, the San Pedro Tour Operators Association (SPTOA) has been helping their members, including staff/crew, boat captains and tour guides, with food items. On Wednesday, June 24th, the SPTOA handed out about 150 bags full of groceries to their members affected by lost jobs/revenue due to the pandemic.
The grocery items include basic staples such as rice, beans, cooking oil, meat (chicken), bread, flour, and some hygienic products as well. The program has been running with the Association’s assistance and the generous contributions of donors that have helped via their GoFundMe page https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-feed-our-guides.
The program was scheduled to run for three months when it began back in April. However, the SPTOA will evaluate the situation as those three months elapse and look at ways to continue the project if needed. If that is the case, using their GoFundMe page is an option.
The recipients thank the SPTOA 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 uncertain because the return of tourism to Ambergris Caye is not expected until August 15th and under stringent measures. The Association is still confident that whenever tourists return to the island, they will be more than ready.
