For the last six weeks, two groups have collaborated to offer our community some much needed love and attention: St. Maarten Vegans and the Sadhu Vaswani Center of St. Maarten have been offering freshly made boxed lunches for just US $5 which they call Feel Good Lunches.
Six vegan chefs: Mercedes De Windt, Marianne Marchant, Jenny Budhrani, Divina Mirpuri, Stephy Rodriguez and Jackie Sattler-Van Zand have donated their time and talents to making this program succeed. For each lunch sold, at least one lunch was given free of charge and delivered to residents who have lost nearly everything to the recent hurricanes.
Organizer Priya Divina Mirpuri has been a major supporter of this effort, driving with a few helpers into the hardest hit communities of Middle Region, Dutch Quarter, Sucker Garden, Cay Bay, Fort William, Pond Island and Over the Bank. As they go, they care for animals in need as well; and make notes of who is in need of what for future trips.
“We have been going out every day for the past six weeks, delivering the meals and asking people what they need. Many just need drinking water; even still, they are so happy just to have some water.” Mirpuri delivers personal care products such as toothpaste, pampers, and cosmetics as well as shoes, clothes and groceries. Much of this has been donated by Kams, but also donations have come in from the Red Cross and citizens such as Anish Chugani of Avantika and Danny Ramchandani of ACE Home Center.
Mirpuri’s motivation for this work is rooted in her faith. She believes that much of the injustice and pain in the world can be ended with small acts of kindness as well as major acts of love. She says that being vegetarian or vegan is one such act and that by ending all killing, our world would become a more loving and just place. She follows the teachings of Dada JP Vaswani, a 99-year-old Guru living in New York, who inspires many with his messages of love. She shared one of his sayings that if you want to be happy, you should make others happy.
Mirpuri invites those with an interest in this form of spirituality to join a like-minded group that meets each Monday at Belair Community Centre from 7:00 to 8:00pm. This is the Sadhu Vaswani Center’s meeting place. The Monday sessions are very beautiful and although some of it may be in the Indian language, that should not deter anyone from attending if they feel so inclined. Mirpuri says, “All are welcome.”
They also do monthly programs to reach out to the community and work with such groups as K1 Britannia and Art Saves Lives; and they have a youth group called Bridge Builders SXM which takes part in their community outreach. To find out more about this group, find their facebook page.
Since the storm, the group had been focused on the Feel Good Lunches initiative in which each week a different chef was in charge of the menu and cooking. Also each week the proceeds went to a different group, to extend the reach of the initiative. Through this work, they have been able to donate hundreds of dollars to good causes, namely Space-less Gardens in St. Peters, Animal Defenders St. Maarten, Nature Foundation, Ideal Preschool (which lost its entire facility in the storm) and Miss Tess’ Art Craft Café (also rebuilding from scratch).
The group has been working on a volunteer basis for the six weeks since the storm’s passing and they now have to take a step back to attend to their own families and homes. But the Feel Good Lunches and the community outreach will continue, perhaps on a monthly basis. Follow their St. Maarten Vegans facebook page to keep apprised of the next offering and other activities.
The members of St. Maarten Vegans invite the public to come out for their Walk for Peace, which takes place tomorrow, Sunday, starting at 6:00am. Registration is at 5:30am. The peace walk is aimed at promoting social and environmental sustainability, care for animals, and support for our communities in need. The walk will start at Belair Community Centre. Those who cannot walk are invited to take part in a free yoga session on the Belair terrace. Afterwards a breakfast will be served and then there will be a break for folks to go home and shower.
But come back to the Belair Community Centre at noon as the program will continue with the blowout Friendsgiving Lunch Buffet with all your favourite vegan Thanksgiving Day dishes. Also on the roster of the day’s events are presentations by EPIC and Denicio Wyatt of Space-less Gardens. The vegan chefs will have their book of winning recipes on sale for $10.
All this is free of charge, brought to you with love from the St. Maarten Vegans and the Sadhu Vaswani Center. Donations are of course welcome to enable them to continue their good works for the community.
They also hope everyone takes a pledge to go meatless on International Meatless Day, November 25. You can take a “Pledge to be Veg” by emailing your intention to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Of course, they hope this will only be the beginning of more kind meals for all humans, and movement towards cruelty-free living, which will benefit our health, world peace and the environment.
Come, rise early on Sunday, and be a part of the peace walk. Join the movement for empowerment through love.
