Fairtrade Hosts Lunch Gathering for Elders in Orange Walk Town

Fairtrade provides millions of dollars in premiums annually to sugarcane farmers in northern Belize. Today, Belize recognized World Fairtrade Day under the theme “Choose Fairtrade Choose a Better Future”. For background, Fairtrade is defined as an arrangement designed to help producers in developing countries achieve sustainable and equitable trade relationships. The Belize Sugarcane Farmers Association was the first association in the country to receive Fairtrade certification for its products. Since then, all other sugarcane farmers associations have received Fairtrade certifications. In line with its mission to invest in community development programs, Fairtrade’s regional office provided lunch for members of Helpage today in Orange Walk Town. We spoke with Juan Vargas, the Chairman of Helpage Orange Walk.

Juan Vargas

Juan Vargas, Chairman, Helpage Orange Walk 

“Fairtrade helps a lot in community work; they are very active in community work. Helpage we deal with helping the elders and our main role is trying to link with people who can assist us. We are a group of volunteers. So, anybody that comes and says we can help you with this, we can assist you, we willingly pick that up, run with it, and get involved, because we know that we can look at it as a long-term thing and some help will come to us which is very good for our old people. Helpage Orange Walk is involved in providing a bag of basic food necessities for about sixty elders monthly. Then, we are also organizing activities to bring in people at the center so that they can have a little bit of fun conversation with peers, and interact. Simple interactions go a long way with helping our elders. That is our mantra. We try organize to organize these kinds of activities.”