MONTEGO BAY, St James

The Flankers Basic School and Health Centre which were extensively damaged by Hurricane Dean will get new roofs courtesy of a $500,000 donation from Chairman of the Sandals/ATL Group of Companies, Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart.

Stewart handed over the $500,000 cheque – part of a J$10-million pledge he made following the category four hurricane – to president of the Flankers Citizens’ Association, Marilyn Nash, yesterday.

“Our organisation work with the people of Flankers (goes back 25 years). In fact, a tremendous amount of our staff come from Flankers,” a smiling “Butch” Stewart told members of the media at the SRI office in Montego Bay yesterday.

Describing the relationship between Flankers and Sandals as mutually beneficial, Stewart recalled the 1988 passage of Hurricane Gilbert.

“In 1988 when we had Gilbert the amount of people that came out of Flankers to help us rebuild the hotels was tremendous,” Stewart noted. “So for me it is just a big pleasure, in time of need we can contribute,” he said.

In 2003, the Sandals Montego Bay instituted the Sandals Training and Recruitment Tier (START), following a major demonstration sparked by the police shooting deaths of two senior citizens in the community.

The programme, which kicked off with 25 youths receiving training in housekeeping, watersports, maintenance, food and beverage and the spa, has since gained official accreditation from HEART Trust/National Training Agency.