A recent donation of supplies for the island’s recent trough relief drive.
The Ministry of Social Transformation, Local Government and Community Empowerment continues its mobilisation efforts in the post-Christmas Eve trough relief drive.
Last week, the ministry’s staff engaged in distribution of two shipments of supplies from philanthropic organisations in the diaspora.
The Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Juliana Alfred said these organisations, particularly the Saint Lucia House Foundation of New York; the Caribbean/American Heritage Foundation of Texas; and the Saint Lucia Foundation of Texas, have been in constant contact since last year’s extreme weather event.
Chairman and CEO of the Saint Lucia Foundation of Texas Peter Renee was on island, to help with the distribution efforts.
“This is something that we felt very passionate about. As we saw the many supplies coming in to Saint Lucia, the one thing that was glaring to us was that there was nothing being done for the kids, and that part seemed to be the most challenging. So that is what we decided to do, to take it upon ourselves,” said Renee.
From the foundation in Texas, schools supplies worth over US$5000 were donated to affected schools, namely the Canaries, Anse La Raye, and Bexon Primary Schools.
Permanent Secretary Alfred expressed her gratitude to the donors.
“A sincere thank you to all the Saint Lucians in Houston who contributed to this effort. It was a group effort to ensure that these supplies got to Saint Lucia, and we are grateful. We want to give them the assurance that these supplies are in fact going to the persons who were directly affected, and they will be utilised by the kids who lost everything,” she said.
An additional quantity of clothing items donated by the Saint Lucia House Foundation in New York were handed over to constituency councils for onward distribution to affected members of the respective communities.