Students receive back to school packages from RCA and its corporate partners

The students, who hail from the Golden Grove, Jennings, Freetown, Buckley’s and C.T Samuel Primary Schools  were presented with school supplies, backpacks and uniform vouchers. The vouchers are redeemable at Happy Kids Store which also supported the initiative.

Ten students from the Cedar Grove Primary School received only uniform vouchers from the RCA as part contribution to the Nothern Vibz Community Group back to school initiative.

The monetary donations from Digicel Antigua and Harney Motors, totaled EC$10, 000 dollars, while the CIU donated books, pencils and other stationary to the initiative. Digicel Antigua was represented by its Marketing Manager, Cherisse Adams and Chief Executive Officer, Joanna Spencer, while Leslie Barnes was the marketing representative present for Harney Motors.

Both Adams and Barnes are very pleased to be associated with an initiative of this nature as many households are still grappling with financial challenges as a result of the global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The joy of seeing the happy smiles on the faces of the children as they collected their packages cannot be understated.

President of the Rotary Club of Antigua, Kevin Silston, said that the ongoing effort to  develop corporate relationships is extremely important to the work of the Club. He added that the Club’s finances have been severely affected by the absence of its major fundraiser this year – Colours Fete. He thanked both companies for their generous donations and wished the students a successful semester in their respective classes.

Meanwhile, in preparation for Caribbean Wellness Day, which will be commemorated on September 12th, each school was presented with a case of Oasis Water, donated by Premier Beverages.

Caribbean Wellness Day is celebrated by CARICOM countries on the second Saturday in September each year, as part of a unified response to promote health and prevent and manage the high incidence of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in our communities.

This year, the focus will be on eliminating Childhood Obesity, which also is an area of focus for our Rotary District Governor,  Lisle Chase in this Rotary Year.

President of RCA encouraged the Principals and Teachers of the schools to use this gesture to encourage the students to drink more water and to eliminate sugary drinks and sweets from their diet. “This is critical in our fight against Childhood Obesity”, he emphasized.