Scotia Foundation celebrates child month with $2.4 million donation to renovates educational facilities

Kingston Jamaica – Continuing its observance of Child Month, the Scotiabank Jamaica Foundation has provided donations totalling $2.4 million for renovation efforts at two educational facilities in St. Catherine and another in St. James. 

Painting and clean-up efforts at the Port Henderson Primary School in Portmore were spearheaded by Food for Poor Jamaica, while work done at the Montego Bay Learning Centre – a school for students with special needs and the Victorious Basic School in Gordon Pen were led by the United Way of Jamaica. The Bank also deployed scores of volunteers to assist with the completion of the projects on Labour Day. 

Commenting on the Bank’s involvement, Yanique Forbes- Patrick, Vice President, Public Affairs and Communications said “ The Scotiabank Jamaica Foundation is very happy to again contribute to the development of our students by helping to improve the conditions at these three institutions. The efforts also marked the physical return of our employee volunteer corps to the communities that we serve and was indeed a special occasion for us following a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Approximately 50 Scotiabank employees were involved in the works carried out at the institutions. 

Stephannie Coy, Chief Executive Officer of the United Way of Jamaica registered the importance of the initiative saying “The United Way of Jamaica has given priority to supporting early childhood institutions since the start of the pandemic and with 2022 being declared by the Governor General as the “Year of Early Childhood Development”, we are pleased that Scotiabank has answered the call through their contribution and has helped us to improve conditions and create a safe and enabling environment for young children.” 

Kivette Silvera, Director of Finance at Food For The Poor noted that the programme is the second such in the history of its partnership with the Scotia Foundation, “Just last year , thanks to the Bank’s generous financial support, we were able to equip schools, including Port Henderson Primary, with handwash stations, to help facilitate face-to-face learning.” 

“As part of our monitoring and evaluation strategy, we remained in dialogue with Port Henderson Primary and identified the need for a 'face-lift',” Burrell explained. Four classroom blocks at the school were painted as part of the effort.