After a multi-year pause triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, a key Barbadian transport cooperative has revived its signature community giving program, rolling out targeted back-to-school support for hundreds of vulnerable primary school students across two parishes.
The Bridgetown Port Taxi Co-op Society Ltd officially extended its assistance to three institutions this week: St Lawrence Primary in Christ Church, St Mark’s Primary, and St Stephen’s Primary in St Michael. School leaders, including principals and senior teaching staff, accepted the donations on Tuesday on behalf of low-income families preparing for the new academic year. While the organization opted not to release the exact monetary value of the support, co-op president Adrian “Smiley” Bailey framed the initiative as a core expression of the group’s longstanding commitment to lifting local communities.
Bailey explained that this outreach effort has been a staple of the co-op’s community work for nearly three years, but pandemic-related disruptions forced the group to suspend the program. When planning this year’s restart, the co-op’s board selected the three participating schools, but delegated all decisions about which students would receive aid to school administrators. Bailey noted that school leaders in Barbados have an unmatched understanding of student needs, especially given the scope of the national primary education system: the island counts 64 primary schools serving more than 15,000 young students, leaving no shortage of families struggling to cover back-to-school costs.
Pointing to the particularly heavy burden placed on households with multiple school-aged children, Bailey called on other private and community organizations across Barbados to step up with similar support. He also pushed back against implicit criticism of parents who took time to enjoy the island’s iconic Crop Over festival in the weeks leading up to the new school term.
“A year consists of 52 weeks,” Bailey argued. “If some of these parents have parented these children for 52 weeks of the year and they take a chance and enjoy Crop Over when school is around the corner just for two weeks, we have to understand that these are parents who are looking after children for 52 weeks of the year and they need to enjoy themselves at some time.”
Looking ahead, the co-op plans to continue and expand the program in 2025, with a goal of increasing the number of participating schools from three to as many as ten. Bailey also publicly thanked key partners that made this year’s initiative possible, including the Bridgetown Port authority, local businessman Eddy Abed, and Copacabana. He added that the co-op’s current outreach is also a gesture of gratitude for the critical support the government provided to taxi operators during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when global travel shutdowns decimated the island’s taxi industry.
“If today, on the 25th of August, we can be given back something to assist children in Barbados, this gesture, I hope it can go a very long way,” Bailey said.
The official donation presentations were attended by St Lawrence Primary Principal Lorraine Gittens, acting St Mark’s Primary Principal Tamara Whittaker-Massiah, and St Stephen’s Primary senior teacher Wendy Archer, who accepted the contributions on behalf of their respective schools. Two elected representatives also participated in the events: Neil Rowe, Member of Parliament for St Michael North West, and Dr Shantal Munro-Knight, MP for Christ Church South and Barbados’ Minister of Agriculture. Both politicians praised the co-op’s work, with Munro-Knight highlighting the special importance of this support in the lead-up to every new school year.
“We all know that there are certain vulnerable families within our society and therefore again this assistance, I believe, will go a long way in helping them,” she said. Munro-Knight also commended the co-op for choosing to direct its resources toward supporting children, noting that the organization’s current outreach serves as a thoughtful reflection of the government’s pandemic support for taxi operators.
“You could have done several things with the resources that you are giving back, but the fact that you’ve chosen to do this is important as well, and that you acknowledge the fact that government would have during that COVID period, also provided some assistance, and therefore doing this is just a little bit of that recognition as well,” she added.