NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (October 4, 2013) – The Nevisian Association of Washington DC (NEV-DC) on September 30, 2013, donated a variety of school supplies to the Nevis Island Administration’s (NIA) Department of Education, with the hope that the donation would positively impact education on the island.
One student from each government-run primary and secondary school on the island, including the Special Education Unit, will benefit from the donation which includes backpacks with basic school supplies. Additionally, NEV-DC is expected to provide monetary assistance to needy students from the various primary schools, to assist them with breakfast and lunch. Eleven students of the Joycelyn Liburd Primary School will benefit from lunch during the period October to November 2013, and 22 students from the other schools will benefit from breakfast from October 2013 to June 2014.
In a short ceremony held at the Department of Education, a representative of NEV-DC officially handed over the donation to Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education Mrs. Lornette Queeley-Connor who explained how the project originated.
“We’re here accepting some gifts from Mrs. Susan Clarke from NEV-DC …..Last school year, that is, I received a call and a couple of emails from one, Mr. Ricco Clarke, who indicated to me that his organisation, NEV-DC, wanted to do something for the youth of Nevis.
“They wanted to give back in some way to education and he asked whether we had needs, and I said to him, ‘Oh, we have multiple needs but you’re not very new to us’ because we would have had some interaction with NEV-DC before,” Mrs. Queeley-Connor, said, adding that R. Clarke indicated that the association had been raising funds to assist Nevisian youth and wanted to know where it can “chip in,” she said.
On behalf of the NIA’s Ministry and Department of Education, Mrs. Queeley-Connor expressed words of gratitude to NEV-DC for its generous donation and asked S. Clarke to convey the department’s appreciation to her husband Mr. Ricco Clarke, to President of NEV-DC Ms. Jasmine Daniel and to all the other Nevisians in the diaspora.
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