Growth & Jobs | More funds: St Patrick’s Foundation to use donation to make citizens more self-reliant
Published:Tuesday | February 26, 2019 | 12:00 AM
Residents of several inner-city communities, including Seaview Gardens, Riverton City, Olympic Gardens, and Waterhouse, will benefit from donations recently received by the St Patrick’s Foundation from the Holy Cross Mission Team in Ontario, Canada.
The St Patrick’s Foundation, located in Seaview Gardens, St Andrew, with its mission of imparting relevant skills, opportunities, and care to residents of select low-income communities, making possible their social and economic advancement, will use the donations to empower and motivate citizens to become self-reliant and responsible.
The foundation offers salon services through the cosmetology programme at the Christ the Redeemer Human Resource Centre and a range of beauty services, including hair, nail, and skincare and massage therapy at affordable prices.
The foundation also offers catering services through the Commercial Food Preparation programme at the Christ the Redeemer Human Resource Centre. The catering service serves as a revenue stream that supports community-development programmes, boasts fine food and exceptional service, providing customised menu options.
They also cover corporate events of all sizes, private individuals, schools, and church-related events in Kingston and St Andrew.
Furniture manufacturing and repair services are available from the woodwork programme. A variety of furniture can be made to order, and these include dressers, tables, desks, chairs, and stools. The students also manufacture wooden plaques.
The foundation also has a strong and successful remedial programme, which serves students as young as 12. The main focus is to improve literacy and numeracy skills and prepare the students for the Grade Nine Achievement Test (GNAT).
Once successful in the GNAT, students are able to rejoin the regular high-school system. They are also able to transition to any one of the skills training programmes offered by the foundation.
According to Christopher Forster, chaplain of the Holy Cross Mission Team, while their visit provides an opportunity for students to volunteer, it also helps to build camaraderie and to help people who benefit directly from their donations.
“We are very passionate about volunteering, so we wanted to do our part in assisting the foundation. This is our 11th year and is important to us because the community benefits from our assistance. This year, we have 20 volunteers, and we have raised over CN$18,000, which has been donated to the foundation to date,” Forster said.
Vagia Agostino, one of the team leaders on the mission, said that the idea of seeing other cultures and the happiness that the recipients show motivates them to continue with the programme.
“It is easy to get caught up in everyday stress that we forget to be positive and kind. We are helping to support our fellowman, giving them an opportunity to have a better life,” Agostino said.
Seventeen-year-old Noah Matos and 18-year-old Emily Crockford were excited to be on the mission. “I want to make a difference in the world, not just in my community. It is great to see the outcome from our visit,” Matos said.
Crockford, who has been staging a 32-kilometre walk for the last three years to raise funds for the charity organisation, has donated over CN$3,000 to date.
“I realised that I wanted to help after the other volunteers would return from their trips and share their experiences. The donations so far, have helped with the Early Childhood Centre at Riverton Meadows to create a safer environment for the students, including kitchen repairs and completing the perimeter fencing,” Crockford said.