Police, Rapid Relief Team distribute food hampers to the needy

THE police, in collaboration with the Rapid Relief Team, have organised the distribution of holiday food boxes for people in need.

The 35 boxes, which contain non-perishable food items, are set to be distributed by the Special Victims Department and the Victim and Witness Support Unit.

On December 12, the day after the end of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, members of both units gathered at the St Clair Police Station to hand over the boxes.

Michelle Rowley-Powder, head of the Special Victims Department, said the distribution of the food boxes aligns with the police’s strategy to enhance community engagement in 2025.

“As the police enters its new strategic year in 2025, one of our pillars as it relates to the strategic plan is community engagement. There’s so much the police can do in combating domestic violence, in combating any type of crime, and we have decided as an organisation that if we engage the community, we could do more, we could get better results.

She said initiatives like those helped her team support victims in various ways.

“Apart from just investigating crime together with the Witness and Victim Support Team, our role is also to provide psychological and social support to victims of domestic violence…

“Many times we are seeing victims of domestic violence return to their abusers because of financial constraints. And sometimes we wonder, ‘Couldn’t someone offer some help? Couldn't anybody else provide any bit of help so that the victim could be standing on better ground?’

"And I am happy today that our stakeholders are seeing it fit to meet victims at the point of their need.”

Lead of the TT' branch of the NGO Rapid Relief Team Philip Mings said the distribution was just a small part of what the organisation did to relieve hardship in society.

Founded in Australia in 2011 in light of destructive wildfires, the Rapid Relief Team is a global charitable organisation that seeks to help relieve global hardship.

In TT, the team does consistent outreaches, both proactive responses in distributing food hampers to those in need and reactive responses in situations of natural disasters.

Mings said, “These are things that we do throughout the year. For floods we have buckets which consist of non-perishable items that could probably feed a family for two-three days. We also have events where we provide meals to support frontline and first responders.”