A Canadian non-profit organization has delivered a targeted donation of specialty seeds to support community-led food security work across St. Vincent and the Grenadines, marking the latest chapter of a long-running partnership between international donors and local agricultural initiatives.
Dwight “Bongo” Anderson, founder and executive director of Canada-based Still Kickin’ Charity, contributed three full barrels of mixed vegetable, herb, and flower seeds to the Zero Hunger Trust Fund (ZHTF), a local body working to reduce food vulnerability across the island nation. Fitz Huggins, the former consul general of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) to Toronto, formally presented the donation to ZHTF on Anderson’s behalf.
Following the handover, the donation was distributed across three key stakeholders aligned with national food security goals. One barrel was allocated to SVG’s Ministry of Social Welfare and Community Empowerment, Ecclesiastical Affairs and National Heritage, while a second went to Seed Sisters, a local women in agriculture initiative founded with support from Still Kickin’ Charity. The third barrel remains under ZHTF stewardship to support its ongoing community and household gardening programs.
Safiya Horne-Bique, chief executive officer of ZHTF, welcomed the contribution as perfectly timed and closely aligned with the fund’s core mission: delivering community-centered solutions to hunger, poor nutrition, and food insecurity across SVG. “This is a very timely donation, and I know our backyard gardeners and family farmers will appreciate receiving these seeds,” Horne-Bique said, adding that ZHTF looks forward to deepening its ongoing collaboration with Anderson and his team.
SVG’s Minister of Social Welfare Shevern John emphasized that expanding domestic agricultural production is a central pillar of the government’s national development strategy, noting that agriculture holds a place as one of the four core pillars of the country’s economy. “These seeds will go towards farmers who will improve their production and help increase domestic food production. This is an important contribution to food security in St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” John said, thanking Anderson and Still Kickin’ for their sustained support and praising ZHTF for ensuring the donation reaches the communities that need it most.
Huggins echoed this sentiment, noting that the seed contribution fits seamlessly into the ongoing food security programming ZHTF runs for local communities every year.
For Anderson, the donation is rooted in deep personal connection to SVG. Anderson, who has Jamaican-Canadian heritage, lived in the country with his family from 2021 to 2024, where he built close ties with local farming communities and gained firsthand understanding of how critical local food production is to Vincentian livelihoods. This experience motivated him to expand his charity’s support for the country’s food security efforts. Still Kickin’ first began sending seed donations to SVG immediately after the 2021 eruption of the La Soufriere Volcano, which disrupted local agriculture and left many communities facing acute food shortages, and has continued supporting related initiatives ever since.
“We are well aware of the food security issues in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the natural disasters that farmers and the wider population have faced,” Anderson said. He explained that Seed Sisters, the SVG-based group that received one barrel of the donation, was established through his charity to support female smallholder farmers, boost local food output, and lay the groundwork for a national sustainable seed bank.
“The aim is not only to grow seeds for selling or personal use, but also to develop a strategic seed bank in St. Vincent that can help to reinvigorate the agricultural sector if it is affected by storms, volcanic activity or other challenges,” he said. Anderson also encouraged Vincentian households to embrace small-scale seed saving and home seed banking as a strategy to build greater national resilience, particularly at a time when global economic volatility and supply chain disruptions disproportionately threaten small island developing states.
Anderson extended special thanks to Westcoast Seeds and its donations coordinator Erika Simms for their ongoing support that made this latest contribution possible. In a closing statement, a press release from ZHTF reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to partnering with local, regional, and international stakeholders to advance sustainable, nutrition-focused food security initiatives across SVG, ranging from supporting backyard gardening and youth engagement in agriculture to expanding community food production and improving access to nutrient-dense foods for all residents.