The Greek-named Eleos Family Centre (formerly the old Methodist Manse at the top of Sandy Ground) coined by the late Supernumerary Minister, Reverend Cecil Weekes, has received much-needed financial assistance from the Anguilla Social Security Board. It is probably the first church-related initiative to get such funding from the Board –because of its outreach in the community.
A cheque in the amount of just over US$3, 180, was presented to Mrs. Angeline Carty, Manager of the Centre, by Mr. Timothy Hodge, Director of Social Security, on Friday, February 12. Other persons at the presentation ceremony were the Chairperson of the Eleos Family Centre Board, Mrs. Hyacinth T. Hughes; Superintendent of the Anguilla Methodist Circuit, Reverend Dr. Wycherley Gumbs; and Treasurer of the Centre’s Board, Mr. Kenn Banks.
The money will be used for a second set of bathroom facilities on the first floor of the two-storey building, purchased by the Methodist Church in 1910.
“The Social Security Board, now coming to its 30th Anniversary, this year, established a Social Security Development Fund from which monies may be used for socially-desirable purposes with the approval of the Board and the final approval of the Minister,” Mr. Hodge said. “This fund ha
s, over the years, provided funds in such areas as sports, health, youth and education. This project at the Eleos Family Centre fits very neatly into the Social Security Board’s funding guidelines. Generally, as a rule, we do not support the churches. We feel that the churches should support themselves but this is a project that goes out into the community – dealing with a lot of areas including youth and education – so we were very happy to support this project.”
Mrs. Hughes spoke about the origin of the Centre. “It came about because we were discus
sing what the church could do within the community that would assist families,” she reported. “We looked at all the problem areas and out of the discussions we had, over a period of time, the Eleos Centre, a Family Support Ministry was born. The initial effort, which is still continuing, is the After School Programme for Primary School students – and that has gone from strength to strength. We have 42 children in grades from 1 – 5. Of course, it is wider than that – supporting families in various ways [to be announced later]. All of this is to help people to find their rightful place as God’s children within the community.”
She went on: “We have one bathroom upstairs and have quite a big room downstairs where we hold courses and so on. The stairs are quite steep and if we were to have senior citizens here this would be a problem. The plan for the development of the Centre is to have bathroom facilities downstairs and so we requested funding from the Social Security Board for this.”
Reverend Dr. Gumbs saw the provision of the Centre, and its continued development, as a compassionate initiative of the church. “This is one of compassion, caring for the least among us – our children, the elderly and so forth,” he said. “That’s the ministry of the church, and the ministry of Christ, so we are glad to be part of this as the Methodist Church serving the community.”
Mr. Kenn Banks no
ted that when the project started the British Methodist Church provided part funding for five years for the staff. Money obtained from renting the building was used for the renovation work so far. In addition, the Anguilla Methodist Circuit provides EC$25,000 per annum towards the project. In thanking the Social Security Board, he said there was a need for more community support as there was a lot of additional work to complete the repair and development work – and to finance other projects.
Mrs. Angeline Carty, Manager of the Centre, stressed that it was not just for the people of Sandy Ground, but the entire Anguillian community. “There is already the recognition of the Board of the various things that need to happen, so I am in the process of implementing these various programmes in partnership with Government organisations and other agencies,” she stated. “One of the things in the pipeline at the moment is a juvenile legal aid system. It is a recognition that we have a lot of young people who need assistance – and we recognised that the Juvenile Court system is having some challenges…That is something we are looking into.”
Mrs. Carty also spoke about a number of matters relating to behaviour among children at the Centre and of ways in 
which she was dealing with the situation.
In commending Mrs. Carty for her work, Mrs. Hughes, in her capacity as Chairperson of the Eleos Family Centre, also expresse
d appreciation to another person for her role at the Centre. “When it comes to the After School Programme, Angelina works in conjunction with Civilla Kentish who is actually the After School Programme Manager,” she pointed out. “When you asked about behavioural problems, apart from what Angelina said about giving them awards for doing things, is working with them through a value system as shown on the display board. Mrs. Kentish will tell you that that too has helped.”
Mrs. Carty is a professional Social Worker. She was born and trained in England and held a number of managerial positions there. She 
then went to St Lucia where she has family links and served for seven years having helped to develop the first Government-run Children’s Home. She came to Anguilla in 2012 and worked at the Juvenile Centre for just over a year, following which she was a voluntary worker with the Department of Youth and Culture.
