FOOD FOR THE POOR HANDS OVER 50TH BASIC SCHOOL

Kingston, Jamaica – March 3, 2015

Veronica Baker (center right), Principal of New Testament Early Childhood Development Centre in Wynters Pen, St Catherine and Dr. John Buuk (center left), Donor Representative, Food For The Poor (FFP) cutting the ribbon to officially open a new building for the school on March 3. Sharing in the moment are (from left): Reverend  Bruce Farrell, the school’s Board Chairman; Andrew Mahfood, Chairman of FFP Jamaica; David Mair, Executive Director of FFP Jamaica and the Very Rev. Burchell McPherson, Bishop of Montego Bay and Board Member of Food For The Poor Inc. This is the 50^th basic school to be constructed as part of FFP’s Jamaica 50 campaign.

Food For The Poor (FFP) officially handed over the 50th basic school, fulfilling their commitment made in 2012 to mark the 50th Anniversary of Jamaica’s Independence.  This took place today, March 3, 2015 at the New Testament Early Childhood Development Centre in St. Catherine.

On June 12, 2012, at the Jamaica 50 Campaign Launch, the charity organisation announced that it would build 50 basic schools in 50 months, at a cost of approximately $150 million, as its gift to the nation.  The fifty basic schools have been completed 18 months ahead of the time promised to achieve the objective.

Present at the handover of the 50th basic school was Minister of Education, Reverend The Honourable Ronald Thwaites and FFP Chairman, Andrew Mahfood.

In his address, Mr. Mahfood said his philanthropic organisation could not have completed its objective of building 50 schools in 50 months, without donations received from his local and overseas donors.

"Today, we can say 'mission accomplished!' However, FFP's journey in developing Jamaica's education system has not ended. We remain committed to our children and to constructing suitable structures for their upliftment. In this regard, under our ongoing projects portfolio, eight schools are currently at various stages of construction," Mr. Mahfood said.

During his address, Minister Thwaites thanked FFP for fulfilling its promise to Jamaica, and more so, the education sector.

"I want to begin by expressing, on behalf of the Ministry of Education, our sincere gratitude and appreciation to Food For The Poor for its continued support for education. Specifically, we commend the organisation for sticking to its commitment to build and upgrade 50 basic schools in 50 months as a gift to Jamaica and Jamaicans for the island's Golden Jubilee," Minister Thwaites said.

"You not only said it, you did it! It is fitting that Food For The Poor has undertaken this project as it targets basic schools in communities across the island where the Early Childhood Commission and the Ministry of Education have identified the more dire needs for pre-primary facilities. This is in line with the Government's overall policy to lift up the weakest in the society," he further stated.

Both Minister Thwaites and Mr. Mahfood handed over the newly constructed school building to Veronica Baker, Principal of New Testament Early Childhood Development Centre.

In her heartfelt response, Mrs Baker said, "We are so thrilled and happy to have received the 50th school building from Food For The Poor as part of their Jamaica 50 Campaign. We had no school building in the past. We were behind of the church in a space that was not suitable for teaching young children. Now, we have a wonderful building."

Funding to build this school was provided by Hope Lutheran Church, Bonita Springs, Florida and Faith Lutheran Middle and High School, Las Vegas, Nevada.