By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

ATTENDEES of the Great Commission Ministries’ annual Thanksgiving luncheon shared how the cost of living has made survival difficult.

The annual event was expected to serve between 1,500 and 2,000 people this year, according to the ministry’s founder, Bishop Walter Hanchell.

The event helps many Bahamians struggling with financial difficulties, offering hot meals and groceries.

Wendel Brown, 59, attended the luncheon with his wife and two daughters. He spoke about his struggles and reliance on the Ministry of Social Service since losing his home to a fire.

He said the first accommodation had no running water and he was given the run-around when he sought government help to furnish another place.

“Me and my children sleep on the ground until we had to leave because we didn’t put anything down to give to the people for being in the house,” he said. “So I had to come right back here and in the shack right here with my two daughters and wife.”

Mr Brown said he works to support his family by cleaning yards and doing any other jobs he can find. 

“Some people may be too proud to do it, but that’s what I got to do because they got to eat,” he said.

He said the money he makes is not enough to get by.

“It’s hard. You can make a dollar or two every day, but it wouldn’t be enough to handle your bills,” Mr Brown said.

Robert Sands, chairman of the Baha Mar Foundation, attended the luncheon as part of his organisation’s support for the Great Commission Ministries. 

He said the foundation prepared 500 meals for the event and provided 30 volunteers to help with the luncheon.

“As part of our three pillars of the foundation, which is culture, community, and conservation, this is a very important element that we should support organisations like Dr Hanchell’s,” he said. 

Dr Hanchell said the growing demand reflects the desperation many people feel due to the economic pressures of inflation. 

“Inflation, the cost of living, is literally destroying this country. People cannot afford even to buy food now,” he said, days after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said inflation had returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Mr Hanchell also described the growing need for housing assistance, saying some families are living in their cars for weeks at a time. 

Bishop Hanchell said that daily they serve meals and groceries to people in the inner city from areas such as Bain Town, Englerston, and Yellow Elder, but also receive people daily from as far as Fox Hill. 

He called for more donations to fund Hope City, a proposed 100-bed homeless shelter, but noted that financing has been slow. 

“It costs $3.5 million, and we’re trying to raise $3.5 million for that project,” he said.