St Ann school gets help from First Global Bank
LOCATED IN THE hills of Parry Town, near Ocho Rios, St Ann, is Parry Town Primary School. The school, like the community, is one of those rural places that could easily be forgotten if you prefer not to know the off-beaten tracks.
But First Global Bank (FGB) and their Global Cares Foundation arm, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information are making an effort to touch the lives of the student population in a meaningful way.
Recently, a large staff contingent from the bank and senior representatives from the ministry braved heavy rainfall and slippery road surfacesto journey from Kingston to Parry Town to give the entire school population a full day’s treat.
Teachers and students welcomed their guests as they basked in various fun-filled activities throughout the day.
First Global Bank and Global Cares provided lunch, refreshments and gifts for each of the 500 students.
“We have received gifts from other companies in the past, but we have never been treated at the level where First Global Bank/Global Cares ensures that every child is singled out and treated,” said principal Tamara Wilmot-Buchanan, principal. “This is amazing, we are grateful,” she said.
FGB’s head of marketing and corporate communications, Peter Lindo, said Global Cares was so named by a member of staff; it’s the bank’s official giving programme.
“It gives staff the opportunity to contribute to the programme. We wanted to establish an umbrella under which all of FGB’s giving activities would fall, hence the birth of Global Cares. It is a great way to get staff engaged,” Lindo asserts.
Global Cares has also provided the school with 10 new toilet fixtures for the bathroom stalls and has furnished the specialneeds unit with a fan and a flatscreen TV for general teacher/student population.
This is just one of the ways they show how much they care about our children and education. I’m happy that they have launched Global Cares, which is being exhibited at Parry Town. It is overwhelming,” Buchanan stated.
Meantime, dancehall artiste, Jeffrey ‘Agent Sasco’ Campbell, an ambassador for the FGB/MOEYI Music Programme, provided a rounded entertainment package for the students who sang a number of his songs with him, such as Money Time and Day in Day Out.
“I am happy to have shared in this occasion”, Campbell noted.
Global Cares was established in April 2016 to streamline the philanthropic efforts of FGB and bring more focus and structure to ‘giving back’ to the Jamaican society through contributions of money, time, talent and services.