100 domestic abuse survivors to benefit from Massy’s grocery vouchers

In an effort to support survivors of domestic abuse, the Massy Group of Companies has launched a $1.5 million Women’s Grocery Voucher Programme which would benefit 100 women.

Dubbed “SAFE – Stop Abuse, Stay Empowered,” – this programme was launched on Friday, August 19, at the Massy Distribution Headquarters at Montrose, East Coast Demerara. Under this initiative, which is being undertaken in collaboration with the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security (MHSSS), each of these 100 women would receive a grocery voucher valued at $15,000. The project aims to assist women who are in abusive situations, and the MHSSS would screen and identify those 100 recipients.
Senior Vice President of the Massy Group, Navindra Thakur, spoke about the Group’s corporate social responsibility projects rolled out over the years with specific intention to empower women, and committed the Group to continuing the SAFE grocery voucher programme in the years ahead.
He said that, over the years, the company has not been big on publicising its humanitarian works done to support suicide prevention, mental awareness and domestic violence, but the public would be seeing the works of the company, as the company is committed to discharging its corporate social responsibility.
“We want to ensure that people know what we do, so you’re going to see us in the press, you’re going to see us all over the place. Not because we’re now doing things, but we’re showing the public that Massy has been doing and is very committed to what we call the corporate social responsibility,” Thakur said during brief remarks at the event launching the grocery vouchers initiative.
HSSS Minister Dr Vindhya Persaud expressed excitement at the programme being off the ground, and said it is something she had always wanted to see executed.
She said, “I am very happy to have this collaboration with Massy, as it ensures that an initiative that I have long wanted to happen really manifest, in the sense that we are able to provide survivors of domestic violence with the wherewithal to provide for themselves, with our support, when they are leaving their homes.”
Financial abuse occurs in almost every domestic abuse situation, and because of this, many people in such situations cannot provide for themselves; thus, they find it difficult to leave, the Minister explained.
Minister Persaud said Massy’s financial contribution would help survivors to procure basic needs when they leave.
“When somebody is in a really dark [situation], they’re thinking, ‘if I go out there, I leave familiarity, and I go out there or into what I hope is a better space and a place for me, what am I getting?’
“And so there came SAFE – Stop Abuse, Stay Empowered. And so, every woman who needs it will have access to a voucher to the worth of $15,000 as part of their survival kit,” the Minister has said.
Further, she noted that the MHSSS would continue to seek more support for those affected by domestic violence.
Meanwhile, Massy’s Assistant Vice President and Head of the Group’s Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Steering Committee, Christpen Bobb-Semple, shared that the objectives of the SAFE grocery voucher programme are twofold. The first objective is to empower women by bringing them immediate relief, so they do not have to second guess and subject themselves to abusive and at-risk situations.
The second objective is to provide counselling to women to engender positive coping behaviours. He also shared some of the activities the Group has embarked upon for 2022.
The vouchers are redeemable at any of the five Massy Stores located at Providence, Plantation Turkeyen, Montrose, Vreed-en-Hoop, and Ruimveldt.