A to­tal of 8,200 food sup­port cards have been dis­trib­uted to Mem­bers of Par­lia­ment by the Min­istry of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices (MS­DFS), the Min­istry has con­firmed in an of­fi­cial state­ment.

“The dis­tri­b­u­tion is part of the Min­istry’s ef­forts to en­sure that vul­ner­a­ble fam­i­lies who are ex­pe­ri­enc­ing hard­ship and are un­able to ful­ly pro­vide for the nu­tri­tion­al needs of their re­spec­tive fam­i­lies are pro­vid­ed with the nec­es­sary sup­port,” the Min­istry said in the state­ment.

Minister Cox presents 200 Christmas food cards to Member of Parliament for Chaguanas East, Vandana Mohit. [Image courtesy Ministry of Social Development and Family Services]

The food sup­port cards are val­ued $550 and are re­deemable on­ly at mer­chants ap­proved un­der the Food Sup­port Pro­gramme of the Min­istry of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices. The cards will be valid un­til Jan­u­ary 31, 2023.

The Christ­mas Food Card Dis­tri­b­u­tion is an an­nu­al ac­tiv­i­ty un­der­tak­en by the Min­istry, in keep­ing with the spir­it of car­ing and giv­ing that the sea­son of Christ­mas rep­re­sents.

Minister Cox presents 200 Christmas food cards to Member of Parliament for Cumuto/Manzanilla, Dr Rai Ragbir. [Image courtesy Ministry of Social Development and Family Services]

Ac­cord­ing to the Min­istry’s re­lease, Mem­bers of Par­lia­ment were giv­en ap­prox­i­mate­ly 200 cards each for dis­tri­b­u­tion, by Min­is­ter of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices, Sen­a­tor Don­na Cox, at the Min­istry’s Head Of­fice on St Vin­cent Street, Port of Spain.

Minister Cox presents 200 Christmas food cards to Member of Parliament for Lopinot/Bon Air West Marvin Gonzales. [Image courtesy Ministry of Social Development and Family Services]

“Mem­bers of Par­lia­ment are re­spon­si­ble for dis­trib­ut­ing the Christ­mas Food cards to those in need with­in their com­mu­ni­ties,” the So­cial De­vel­op­ment Min­istry ex­plained. 

“It is the Min­istry’s hope that this sup­port will bring some cheer to the fam­i­lies,” it added.

All re­cip­i­ents will be con­tact­ed by their re­spec­tive MP Of­fices with in­for­ma­tion on dis­tri­b­u­tion dates and times.