Calvary Temple Baptist Primary School sits all the way at the end of Regent Street West, which may be why it usually gets passed over for donations. And they need it: for quite sometime all has not been well for the staff and students who work under grim conditions. Today Lifeline Foundation extended a helping hand with a donation of $14,500. The cheque presented this morning will be used to provide a place where the children who are mostly from poor families will be able to enjoy a meal in a safe environment.
Kim Simpliss, Lifeline Foundation
“We are here today to present a check for the Calvary Temple cafeteria which will be constructed right behind us. We raised the money earlier this year at our black and white charity gala and the money was for a feeding program but we really really saw the need for a cafeteria.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
What was it like working under these conditions?
Georgett Bratley, Principal
“Well this used to be cafeteria and as you can see it is no longer in use. With the constant break-ins that we had in the past, there was no way we could have kept up with this cafeteria. Every week it used to be burglaries after burglaries so eventually we had to close it down.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Besides the break ins, even where the old cafeteria was situated I think presented a rather unsafe environment for the children because it is practically in a classroom.
Georgett Bratley,
“Right but as you see we had no space and we couldn’t do better at the time. We tried to feed our students. But with the help of Miss Kim Simpliss and the Lifeline Foundation, we have found a way to build a new cafeteria in the yard. This space will be converted into a classroom and now with the new cafeteria I can tell you that it is a blessing and it has come in due time because we have several students who go to REMAR, that is the place where they feed the homeless and delinquents and so on. So with our cafeteria we can feed out own students. They won’t need to go anywhere else, of course we will be charging like minimal $1 per plate; they will have to help in some way.”
Kim Simpliss,
“This year our black and white gala was so successful that we were able to do this project in addition to doing the feeding program.”
According to Lifeline Foundation they will also help in establishing a snack shop for the school that will help to raise funds to help sustain the feeding programme. A total of two hundred and fifty students are enrolled at Calvary Temple Baptist School. We were told that the rotary club will also assist in renovations.
