EDUCATION Minister Ronald Thwaites has given the charge for corporate Jamaica to become involved in the development of early childhood education.

Jamaica International Insurance Company (JIIC), an insurance company from GraceKennedy, supported the improvement of the early childhood programme of the Salvation Army. It was refreshing to see members of the JIIC team leave the comfort of their offices to take on the task of improving the Salvation Army Rae Town Basic School.

Their recent staff workday consisted of numerous team members working assiduously to put new coats of paint on some areas of the school, as well as planting flowers to provide beautification as a garden. Paint cans and brushes lined the schoolyard as JIIC displayed their efforts at transforming the school.

JIIC's marketing manager, Elizabeth Chung shared that "the needs of the Salvation Army's early childhood programme was brought to our attention via a letter from one of our directors who has a relationship with the organisation. The needs and how JIIC could assist were clear, and so the team rallied together and started the process of engaging with the school's administration to improve the infrastructure as best we could".

One of GraceKennedy's initiatives has been to revitalise and enhance the downtown community. A subsidiary of GraceKennedy, JIIC's contribution to the Rae Town Basic School reaffirms the effort towards enhancing downtown.

As of today, Rae Town Basic School has a beautifully refurbished lunchroom inclusive of a brand new deep freeze, refurbished bathrooms and new playground equipment.

In addition to donating the playground equipment, JIIC also donated a weed whacker to ensure that the grounds remain well kept so that the children can continuously play in their new area.

"The administrator, the teachers, the divisional head of the Salvation Army, vice-chairman of the board, everyone is very grateful and happy with the work done and the items donated," Chung was happy to report that.

She also reported that JIIC was extremely happy to be able to partner with the Salvation Army and hopes to be able to continue working with the organisation to enhance the early childhood programme in other areas.

"JIIC is always happy to assist in improving the social fabric of our community. We particularly like focusing on the less popular areas hence we've done community parks under our theme 'creating fun places in the community' and the arts. As long as we continue to be blessed with profitable operations we will continue to do our part."