Last week on the news, you saw Guinea Grass villagers protesting at their village boundary - which is a now a police checkpoint. Their village is under COVID lockdown and they were there making impassioned pleas for food assistance, especially for the community's children.
Well, the Commissioner of Police heard their cry and today visited the Guinea Grass Village police checkpoint, where he met the Chairman, Benito Uck, and another resident. He then handed over several boxes of groceries, which the department is donating to this community in need.
He told our colleagues from CTV3 News about this gesture from the department:
Chester Williams, Commissioner Of Police
"I must say thanks to the chairman and Mr. Camera. Last week when they had the peaceful protest here at the checkpoint I communicated with both gentlemen and try to see in what way I can help to alleviate some of the problems that they are encountering in the village and one of the things that we came up with was to  make arrangement for a police escort to be able to take at least once a week residents of the village who may need to go to the bank to collect money and then go to the store to buy groceries, so we put something in place where they would get a van or a bus and the villagers get on board, following all the necessary protocols and then they be escorted into the town by the police to the bank, then escorted to the store then escorted back into the village with a view to ensure that they continue to be able to sustain themselves. We know that the village is under lockdown and the government is not in a position to give them all they would need and so it was only prudent that we try to find other avenues to help them and in that same vein they said to me that the government do give them some assistance, but they are not getting things that they would want for the kids like the biscuit, chips and lala milk and these sort of things and so I said to them that I will employ my best endeavor to put together a package that I'll be able to deliver for them this week and so I contacted some business men and I must say that Santiago Castillo Junior is the biggest contributor of what I'm donating today. You would know that San Cas father who started the San Cas group of company is from Guinea Grass and so when I told him of it, he was more than willing to assist. He said brother Chest I want you to know that my father was from Guinea Grass who started this company and I am going to help the people of Guinea Grass, because they are my people and so I am very grateful to Mr. Santiago Castillo Jr. for the very handsome donation. We also got some stuff from X-tra House import, we got some stuff from 88 Supermarket, we got some stuff from 99 Shopping Center and so those are the persons who contributed to what we are donating here today and this is a part of our community policing outreach."
The total value of the donation is just over $2,000.
The groceries were donated to be equally distributed to the residents.
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