Sandy Point community group hosts ‘Health Walk’
Staff Reporter-SKNVibes.com
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS-THE Community Improvement and Personal Empowerment Organization (CIPEO) of Sandy Point, will be hosting a ‘Health Walk’ this Saturday, May 31st beginning at 6 a.m. near Crab Hill.
According to a release from CIPEO, “persons participating in this exercise are expected to walk from Crab Hill in Sandy Point, to Brimstone Hill Road, in the area of TDC, and return to Mount Idle.”
Medical personnel will be stationed at the end of the walk to give healthy living information, and administer free blood pressure and sugar level screenings.
Fritzroy Wilkin, Public Relations Officer for CIPEO, told SKNVibes.com that the ‘Health Walk’ was designed as an event for everyone to participate in and that he has received very positive response from the members of the community he has talked to about the walk.
“Persons who may not be able to walk to Brimstone Hill but wish to be part of the exercise are encouraged to walk to Mount Idle and have their tests done,” the PRO stated.
He also said that the ‘Health Walk’ will be the first event that CIPEO has organized and is a good demonstration of the group’s mission.
“Our goal is to create awareness of issues affecting the community and to network the community with organizations to deal with these issues,” said Wilkin. “In this capacity, CIPEO will help identify key stakeholders when it comes to community issues and act as a liaison.” ~~Adz:Right~~
Though CIPEO is still in its early stages, Wilkin said that much planning has been and continues to be done to find the best ways to improve the Sandy Point community.
“We believe there are a great number of resourceful persons in the community who can help, but they may just not know how they can best apply their skills or have their ideas developed,” he stated.
CIPEO is a volunteer organization and Wilkin said that they hope to keep it that way. “Especially in these early stages of our group, we do not want to be seen as a parasite on the business community. In our minds, sponsorship is a last option for the events we put on, and that is why we need people who want to improve their community to come out and volunteer their time and services.”
In addition to the ‘Health Walk’, CIPEO has been in discussion with the Parent-Teacher Organization of Sandy Point to improve its focus on giving young people activities after school, more tutoring for students who need it and assistance to young parents who are having trouble meeting their responsibilities.
“It’s really about putting our heads together to meet these challenges,” said Wilkin. “It is going to take time because we are a volunteer organization, but we think that as more people hear about us and begin to pitch in we will be able to make a real difference.”
CIPEO meets at 5:00 p.m. every other Sunday at the community center in Sandy Point, and all members of the public who are interested in joining are encouraged to attend. The next meeting is scheduled for this Sunday, 1st June 2008.
