New partnership links one of Antigua’s best-loved brands with autistic young people training for work at Mount Tabor
The Blue Dragonfly Foundation, Inc. has been awarded a grant by the Mill Reef Fund to grow hot peppers for Susie’s Hot Sauce, made in Antigua since 1960. The peppers will be grown at Friendship Farm, the Foundation’s farm at Mount Tabor, where autistic teens and young adults will gain hands-on training in growing, tending, and harvesting a commercial crop for a buyer every Antiguan knows. The grant will fund the start-up of the pepper-growing project, from building the growing system to the first harvest.
“This is exactly the kind of partnership we set out to build,” said Caroline Hopton, Founder and CEO of The Blue Dragonfly Foundation. “Our young people won’t just be learning to grow peppers – they’ll be growing them for a sauce that has been on Antiguan tables for more than sixty years. That is real work with a real purpose, and a real customer at the end of it. We are deeply grateful to the Mill Reef Fund for making it possible, and to Susie’s Hot Sauce for believing in what our young people can do.”
“As an established local manufacturer, Susie’s Inc. has an ongoing need for locally grown hot peppers, and we see Friendship Farm as a valuable initiative with the potential to contribute to meeting that need,” said Orlando McMaster, Sales & Production Manager and Director of Susie’s Inc., producer of Susie’s Hot Sauce. “What makes this opportunity particularly meaningful is that it brings together agricultural production, vocational training and meaningful employment for autistic young people and adults. It demonstrates how equal opportunity, skills development and commercial enterprise can reinforce one another while contributing to the wider Antiguan economy.”
Friendship Farm sits alongside the Foundation’s restaurant at Mount Tabor, and the two work hand in hand: produce grown on the farm will be prepared and served in the restaurant, giving participants experience across the whole journey from seed to plate. The hydroponic farm is supported by the GEF Small Grants Program implemented by the United Nations Development Programme. The restaurant and farm are opening soon.
The Foundation’s model is built around real work. Participants train in its social enterprises with the aim of moving into jobs in the wider community, and those who are unable to move into mainstream employment continue to be employed by the Foundation’s own social enterprises.
About The Blue Dragonfly Foundation
The Blue Dragonfly Foundation, Inc. is a registered nonprofit in Antigua and Barbuda (Company No. C0778/2019), founded in 2019 by Caroline Hopton. It provides vocational training and supported employment for autistic teens and young adults of all abilities, some of whom have been excluded from education. Its social enterprises include the Thrift & Gift Store and, at Mount Tabor, a restaurant, Friendship Farm, and a Learning Center. Learn more at www.bluedragonflyantigua.org.
About Susie’s Hot Sauce
Susie’s Inc., producer of Susie’s Hot Sauce products, has made hot sauce in Antigua for more than six decades, since Susannah Tonge first bottled it in 1960. Locally grown hot peppers are at the heart of its products, as part of its long-standing commitment to Antiguan agriculture and local production.
This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: Mill Reef Fund Grant Brings Hot Peppers for Susie’s Hot Sauce to The Blue Dragonfly Foundation’s Friendship Farm.