Omega Car Show enterprise, at South Valley, is the latest donor to schools in Anguilla as part of its philanthropic plans to give back to the community.
On Wednesday morning, March 13, representatives of the Car Show enterprise, led by Mr. Jason Brooks, donated a well-needed Table Saw to be used by students in the woodwork room at the Pupil Referral Unit (PRU), known as Campus C of the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School. The other Car Show personnel who accompanied Brooks were Lilian Carty and Malissa Carty.
Jason, founder of the Car Show, and a well-known and responsible young man, told The Anguillian newspaper that his organization had taken a decision to make donations to all the Government-run schools on the island. That undertaking followed a motivational address at Campus C by him in October last year and a car show in December. It was possible to use some of the proceeds of the car show to buy the first set of equipment for schools.
“The donations have started with the Pupil Referral Unit after we asked the teachers there what the PRU needed,” Jason stated. “They requested a table saw and a circular saw, the latter of which will be coming in this afternoon.” He described the equipment as a “Craftsman Evolv 15-Amp 10-inch Table Saw plus accessories”.
The PRU’s Woodwork Teacher, Mr. Henderson Burgess, expressed gratitude for the gift, saying that its value to the unit, and its benefit to the seven students would excel its cost by far. “The children here will get some skills that they can use later on in life,” he said. “Not everyone is academic so we are trying to engage the students in a lot of practical activities. One of the things we thought would be good for them was a workshop. If you look around you will see a number of items that the students are in the process of making and have made. You can see that they have skills and with this equipment they will be able to do a lot more work. Some of our work was held up because we needed this vital equipment to make our products more saleable. The workshop was established at the start of the current school term.”
Among the items made at the PRU are bedside tables, patio plant holders, chairs, stools and bird feeders. The items are usually sold to members of the public during open days at the unit.
Coordinator of the PRU, Marcia Hodge, was happy that so far many of the items made by the students were purchased by a number of persons and organizations last year. She said the next open day activity would be held in April by which time the public should have an opportunity to purchase other items.
Miss Hodge added that now that the PRU had its own workshop, the students were no longer required to leave their premises to do their work at the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School’s main campus facility.
