BY SHERDON COWAN

Observer staff reporter

MANY-TIME Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics champions Kingston College and Holmwood Technical High are among six secondary schools that will be given a major boost through the Reelexo Enterprise Limited’s “Support in Public Schools” (SIPS) initiative leading up to the 105th staging of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports’ Association (ISSA)/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships later this month.

Reelexo Enterprise, a firm active in the marketing, logistics and distribution business with its flagship product SIPS spring water, has aligned itself with select secondary schools, which will see them producing SIPS/school co-branded water, with the schools receiving a monetary contribution for each branded unit sold on the open market.

The innovation is expected to pave the way for a company to contribute to the development of sports amongst the youth, while allowing all of the institutions to contribute in a hassle-free way. It is also expected to supply major funding to the sport programmes at Old Harbour, St Jago, Morant Bay, and Charlie Smith, which complete the list of selected schools.

Marsha Rae McBean, director of marketing and sales, told the Jamaica Observer that the initiative, which was launched last October, but officially got under way in January, is the first of many to be launched by the company which is committed to doing its part to help better Jamaica’s future.

However, McBean outlined that the funds acquired by the schools will not be limited to just sports, but will be geared towards the holistic development of the respective institutions.

“The shareholders in the business are very active in their alma maters, giving back often, not only their money but also their time. Being constantly engaged they see the many needs that go unfulfilled in the schools because of financial constraints.

“We strongly believe that we all should play a part in investing into our future generations by making any contribution we can. No contribution is too small as ‘one-one cocoa full basket’, so we created a way for persons to contribute in an affordable, hassle-free way,” she explained.

She added that the initiative will be a continuous effort as the needs of the schools “won’t go away”, but will instead increase, moreso the schools which comprise strong sporting and school feeding programmes.

“We commit ourselves to the development of Jamaica’s future. Our vision is for each institution to be able to earn enough to make a considerable contribution to their annual budgets. For this initiative to succeed it requires the buy-in of the schools’ wider community, which includes the thousands of past and current students and parents, both locally and internationally, all of which make up our target market,” she mentioned.

“If each one does their part by simply making a purchase, these targets will be easily attained. Our aim is to energise the nation and garner support for our schools, while encouraging engagement of past students with current students to nurture them to be the best they can be. Simply SIPS, buy a bottle support a school,” she added.