"HOPE Nevis officially launches "Hope Deserving Child Award Fund"
By Pauline Waruguru
Nevis Reporter-SKNVibes.com
"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” Martin Luther King Jr.
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| HOPE Nevis, parents and guidance counsellors sign the Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) |
Charlestown, Nevis: HOPE Nevis has launched an innovative fund, the “Hope Deserving Child Award Fund” amidst, praises by Nevis Island Administration (NIA) officials and parents.
Recently, HOPE Nevis adopted St. John’s Primary school and donated reading materials and two balls. The vibrant youth organisation also hosted a Professional seminar that attracted employees from the private sector and government departments.
Mr. Alstead Pemberton, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Social Development said it was a long time since the island had a vibrant youth group such as HOPE Nevis. He said that the Ministry was fully behind the program as it looked after both the health and the education of the child.
The Ministry of Social Development has a program to provide hot meals to the elderly so it is good that HOPE Nevis will be able to provide hot lunches to young people,” Pemberton said.
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| Public Relations Officer, HOPE Nevis, Ron Daniel giving an overview of the Fund |
Mrs. Jennifer Hodge Principal Education Officer has heaped praises on HOPE NEVIS and has noted that the group is active and doing wonders for the development of Nevis' youth. “It is commendable that at a time when so many negative things are said of young people that a youth group like HOPE Nevis could emerge and prove to Nevis that there are some good young people in Nevis”
She has urged the beneficiaries of the fund to value the opportunity provided to them and strive for excellence in their education.
Mrs. Violet Jones, parent of one of the children chosen offered her profound thanks and gratitude to HOPE Nevis saying that this was the second time that she was touched by HOPE Nevis. She was a participant at the HOPE.“My son has always wanted to become a doctor since primary school.
With the help of HOPE Nevis, I am confident that my son will be a doctor,” Mrs Jones said. She further noted that she had faced various challenges and thanked HOPE Nevis for providing what she described “as the much needed help.”
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| Ms Lornette Swanston, Guidance Counsellor, Charlestown Secondary School (CSS) |
Mr. Rohan Isles, President HOPE Nevis presented vouchers to Mrs Hodge who presented them to the selected two deserving students.
Mrs. Lornette Swanston, a Guidance Counsellor at Charlestown Secondary School encouraged other businesses to contribute towards the HOPE Deserving Child Award Fund (HDCAF) so that more children could benefit from the fund. At the end of the ceremony members of HOPE Nevis along with the parents and the guidance counsellors signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which governs the fund.
HOPE PRO, Ron Daniel said members of the organisation express their gratitude to corporate partners and well-wishers. Contributions that have boosted HOPE’s humanitarian fund has come from the Four Seasons Resorts Estates Ltd, Hamoron Services Ltd, NEVLEC Ltd, GMCC Trust Ltd and the Weeks Perkins Family of Pond Hill, Nevis.
HOPE Nevis will be paying approximately $1900.00 to these caterers to provide daily hot lunches to the students who qualify to be assisted by HOPE until the end of the 2007/2008 academic school year.
HOPE Nevis was formed over a year ago in August 2006 by the organisation’s president Mr. Rohan Isles who felt that the time was now for a group of well meaning young people to band together under one umbrella and to attempt to reverse the negative comments associated with young people.
Early last year, Ron Daniel used to host a radio show on CHOICE FM called In the Public Domain and Mr. Isles was his guests when the talk show focused on issues affecting young people.
Daniel recalled that one person called in to the show and said that what was needed was a bunch of positive young people who would do something to assist the youths. Within a couple of weeks, Mr. Isles had contacted Daniel and other people and expressed his desire to start a group called HOPE which simply connotes Helping Our People Excel.
Today HOPE Nevis has just over 20 members from diverse backgrounds, with diverse ideas, with one mission; to do all in our power to help the young people of Nevis excel in their different endeavours.
Since the inception of HOPE Nevis, the organisation has sponsored the Change Center 2006 Christmas Party for the less fortunate children, has given financial assistance to Gladiators as they travelled to Barbados for an athletic meet, visited all the primary schools in Nevis giving motivational talks, participated in the International Beach Cleanup in September, hosted the first Young Professional Seminar on October 12th and formally adopted the St Johns Primary School among other things.
