Sandals Foundation hosts ‘safe’ back-to-school treats in Westmoreland and Hanover

WITH the new school year set to begin in a few weeks, close to 600 students in infant and primary schools will be benefiting from back-to-school initiatives spearheaded by the Sandals Foundation, Sandals Negril, and Beaches Negril.

The annual event, usually hosted at main community locations, will now be held at schools across Westmoreland and Hanover, a move aimed at reducing the number of people gathered in a designated space for any one event.

Heidi Clarke, executive director at the Sandals Foundation, says the teams at Sandals and Beaches Negril resorts were very careful to explore a number of approaches to ensure the safety of parents, guardians, children and educators.

“Today’s reality calls upon us all to be innovative in our approach as we continue to serve our communities. Parents will receive a prompt from their children’s respective schools, using their main platform of communication to advise of their scheduled date and time to collect packages,” says Clarke.

All COVID-19 safety protocols will be observed during the event and all attendees will be advised of same.

School packages will be tailored, based on the age of students and will include school bags filled with notebooks, story books/novels, pencils, crayons, markers, highlighters, pens, erasers, glues and other art supplies, flash cards, construction paper, folder leaves, folders, rulers, sharpeners, calculators, pencil cases and toys.

Jervene Simpson, regional public relations manager for Sandals and Beaches Negril, shared that the distribution process will be done in an orderly and safe manner.

“We will have a set distribution space in each school, with volunteers issuing the supplies. Students will be placed in their respective classrooms and will enter the distribution space in small groups to collect their supplies and refreshments before leaving. All attendees are reminded to wear their masks.”

Students set to benefit will be those enrolled at Pell River Primary School on July 28; Little Bay Primary and Infant Department on August 10; West End Infant School and Happy Hearts Early Childhood Institution on August 12.

“Students and parents will be so thrilled to get an invite to this event. They have been out of school for over three terms, and many parents have suffered financially over the past year. With Sandals Foundation providing these key supplies, many parents will not have to bear the brunt of these back to school expenses. We are thankful for the relationship our school and community enjoy with the Foundation and we salute all their efforts in helping those most in need,” says Sherine Clarke, principal at the Pell River Primary School.