And while she hit the jackpot - Dara Robinson continues to provide basic needs for dozens of children. The grassroots philanthropist feeds an average of 40 students a day - from Monday to Friday.
For Dara, assisting the underprivileged has become a life's work. With over a dozen food drives and fundraising events, his feeding program has been going strong for the past 3 years.
But with all the fundraising being done - catering for two hundred plates of food a week is still quite a task. Today he received a helping hand from Belizean artist Melonie Gillett, when she stopped by his house to drop off bags of groceries. She told 7news, they were bought from the proceeds of her new album that was launched in March.
Melonie Gillett, Artist
"I have been inspired by Dara for a long time with the work that he has been doing with the feeding program and helping these children. He has really left a mark in a lot of these children hearts and not only their hearts - their bellies because as you know in our country we have so many hungry children out there. So when I did the album launch I had decide to donate the proceeds to a charitable organization and Dara was definitely one of the first on the list and so we thought the best way would be is to provide the groceries so that they could then cook it and feed the children."
"The basic cooking stuff; rice, beans, ketchup, oil, vinegar, coconut powder, sugar; we all know that sugar is scarce so we only got a little bit but we got chicken, grind steak etc. It's the first of something I want to continue to do, so it's just a small contribution right now that I hope maybe will suffice them for about a week and then in the future I plan to do this more often."
Dara Robinson
"I am so grateful for it because you are looking at a week and a couple of days food right here and I always been saying that every little donation I get is a big help because yes the name is our there big but sometimes the little donation don't come the way how I would want it to and it's an everyday thing for me. Yes I started and I want to continue it and so for Melonie Gillett as an artist - this is big because it's the first time a Belizean artist really donate and support like this so I am grateful for the donation and for having me in mind."
