NCF Gives To Cornerstone Humanitarian Society

NCF’s Executive Director, Michelle Phillips, said that after speaking with Cornerstone’s Acting Director, Andrea Alcide, the NCF was made aware that the institution currently has one person who is bedridden, two with dementia, and one who is wheelchair-bound. These people require disposable diapers.

Fortuitously, the NCF had received a shipment of personal care items from members of the Saint Lucia diaspora living in New York following an outreach programme with the Saint Lucia House and the Saint Lucia Consulate. A quantity of disposable diapers, bed liners and zinc cream were, therefore, donated to Cornerstone.

“As an organization, the NCF raises funds to assist people in our community,” Phillips said. “However, whenever we get those in-kind donations, there’s a different level of satisfaction, when you can actually cater to a need.”

Cornerstone was first established 29 years ago as a half-way house by a private citizen, providing meals and temporary shelter for homeless persons. Over the years, management of the institution was transferred to the Government and the re-engineering of its mandate to now provide permanent shelter for homeless persons who have no other recourse. The institution currently has 24 permanent residents.

Cornerstone was one of the beneficiaries of the Prime Minister’s Ball, with the NCF the administrator of those funds allocated to the institution. Having seen the dire need for assistance that exists at Cornerstone, Phillips made a plea for more assistance to help take care of the vulnerable in society.

“I keep saying to people that it’s easy to overlook the plight of the under-privileged and older persons who cannot help themselves, especially when everything is going well for us,” Phillips said. “But we must also understand that our lives can change in a heartbeat due to many reasons. So we need to reach out to persons.”

 PHOTO: Cornerstone Humanitarian Society building at Vigie, Castries.

(CASTRIES, Saint Lucia – Thursday, May 26, 2022 — Improving the lives of the elderly, under-privileged and differently-abled continues to remain the mandate of the National Community Foundation (NCF). To that end, the NCF recently donated personal care items to Cornerstone Humanitarian Society, located in Vigie, Castries.