NCF Donates School Supplies To Soufriere Comprehensive, CARE

(CASTRIES, Saint Lucia, Tuesday, November 16, 2021) – The National Community Foundation (NCF) on Tuesday, November 9, presented school supplies to students from the Soufriere Comprehensive Secondary School (SCSS) and the Centre for Adolescent Renewal & Education (CARE).
The presentations were made at a short ceremony held at the Soufriere Comprehensive Secondary School, where NCF staff, and teachers and students from the schools were in attendance.
According to NCF’s Executive Director, Michelle Phillips, the school bags packed with stationery were donated to the students by two former residents from Soufriere now living overseas. The school bags contained notebooks, file sheets, rulers, pencils, and pens.
“These school bags were donated by two people living in New York who are from Soufriere, namely Ingrid Joseph and Nelca Camille,” Phillips said. “They contacted the NCF and requested that these items be distributed specifically in their hometown of Soufriere.”
Percival Mc Donald, Chairman of CARE, and Joel Charlemagne, Principal of SCSS, thanked the NCF and the New York-based donors for the kind gesture.
This year, the NCF faces a monumental task in providing school supplies for the increasing number of students seeking scholarships and bursaries due to the socio-economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, the non-profit and philanthropic organization currently has 162 students on scholarships and 27 on bursaries.
With no Annual Nationwide Telethon planned for this year, the NCF has been forced to come up with more creative ways to meet increasing demands on its limited resources, including widening its support network within the Saint Lucian diaspora.
“We’ve reached out to members of the diaspora, asking them to assist us because there are so many people in need and many trying to raise funds,” Phillips said. “So we’re battling for a piece of the very same pie. In order for us to remain relevant and to sustain each and every foundation, we have to now reach outside to see what we can bring in.”