300 White House students get back-to-school treat
MORE than 100 students in the community of White House, St James, recently benefited from back-to-school donations courtesy of the Sandals Foundation.
The annual event saw students being feted in separate events in open-spaced areas — a move aimed at reducing the number of people gathered in a designated space for any one event – by 30 members of the Sandals team, drawn from Sandals Montego Bay and Sandals Royal Caribbean.
School packages distributed included school bags with notebooks, storybooks, novels, pencils, crayons, markers, highlighters, pens, erasers, glue and other art supplies, flash cards, construction paper, folder leaves, folders, rulers, sharpeners, calculators, pencil cases, and toys.
“We are really happy for the help given to students of the White House community. The school supplies will go a long way toward assisting them going back to school,” said community stalwart Beulah England-Kelly.
“The kids were ecstatic to show off their new school bags with the goodies included, as well as the refreshment received. We can’t thank the Sandals Foundation enough for their efforts,” England-Kelly noted.
White House community advocate, George Simpson said, “The back-to-school treat is just a small part of what the Sandals Foundation does for our community. We have received tablets, toys during Christmas, as well as assistance for the basic school in the community. All COVID-19 safety protocols were observed during the events.”
Sandals regional public relations manager for Sandals Montego Bay, Ian Spencer said the Sandals Foundation team was happy to give back to a community with which it has close relationship.
Said Spencer: “It was great to see the smile on the faces of the recipients — and hats off to all the volunteers from the hotels who gave of their time to make this a reality. Kids in White House are like family to us and we will continue with our efforts way beyond [this] back to school [event].”