Thanks to the former Principal of the Vivien Vanterpool Primary School at Island Harbour, Mrs Tracelyn Hamilton, and community persons, a daily luncheon programme was launched at the school on Monday, September 8, leading the way for other schools.
The programme has been warmly embraced and welcomed by Mrs Mavis Fleming-Drakes, the newly-transferred Principal to the Vivien Vanterpool School. “Teacher Tracelyn, along with community sponsors, decided to arrange lunch for the children,” she stated. “Ms Palmavon Webster, along with the PTA and others in the community, including Mr Sam Webster and Pastor Trent Berg of the Seventh-day Adventist, discussed assisting with lunch, based on what Teacher Tracelyn told me.
“We not only provide free lunch, but if parents are interested in purchasing lunch for their children at EC$8.00, they can do so. The children will get lunch and a drink. That is EC$8.00 a day; EC$40.00 a week; EC$80.00 every two weeks or EC$160.00 per month – whichever is more convenient to pay.”
Twelve of the children are being served free lunch and the others, paid lunch. On Monday, however, there were twenty-five servings. There are currently one hundred children on the school’s roll.
The menus were prepared by the Nutrition Unit in the Health Authority of Anguilla and the cook is Ms Merlin Fleming, who has been employed by the Education Department. She is being paid from funds provided to the school for the free lunch.
Most of the first efforts towards the lunch programme were concentrated on the kitchen to which various donations of equipment and other supplies were made by a number of contributors. Among them was Dr Lorenzo Webster.
Meanwhile, Mrs Hamilton, the former Principal, said the planning for the lunch programme was something that she was pleased to have been involved in. “I am pleased with all the efforts of a number of persons – whether from the community or teachers and the PTA executive – who assisted me,” she said. “When I left in July, the programme had reached the point of just the cooking to be done. We already had the cook in place, sent the menus and letters to parents, and got their support, so it was just to get the programme up and running for this new school year. I am very pleased and happy that the project has not gone down, because we have worked very hard on it.”
