The last time we told you about Holy Angles R C School in Pomona was in March when the teachers and parents took the day to stand by the speed bump to ask for donations. As we have shown you, their school buildings were in a deplorable state. Well, not anymore, they have a brand new building tonight. Courtney Weatherburne stopped by for the grand opening.
Courtney Weatherburne reporting
Usually kids would only be going wild like this to play or for treats and toys, but today Holy Angels students were clamouring and pushing their way into the brand new school building. It is a remarkable upgrade from the collapsing rat bat and termite infested structure that stood for many years.
But this building shows how successful their fundraising events and pleas for help were.
Sadie Acevedo, Principal
"At first I guess you guys saw the condition of the building and we were concerned because of the health of our students and teachers and that is why we got in contact with different businesses and different organizations to come in see how they can help and thankfully Westrac stepped up to the plate and as you can see it is a big transformation here, it is more conducive to learning, more ventilation, lighting is good so the kids are happy, they are all excited."
Julian Thiessen, Marketing and Imports, Westrac
"Westrac has been doing school renovations and restorations for the past 3 years. Initially we partnered with Rotaract and we did some of that and in 2019 we hadn't really found what project we wanted to and when this came up on the news that the school was shut down and then we were sure that this was the school that needed it."
Courtney Weatherburne:
"And it is ready for use."
Julian Thiessen
"Yeah, we made sure that it was absolutely ready, the inside walls were actually built new because they needed those partitions and so forth and then put in the black board and the ceiling and the fan so I think the students will be very comfortable, ready to learn."
"We do hope people are inspired to help schools. We really think that education is a foundation for everybody so if people can get behind institutions that are offering the education and we can really help people so we hope we got the ball rolling."
Principal Acevedo hopes so too because the school has also been fundraising to build another school building.
Sadie Acevedo, Principal
"So right now we are still asking the assistance of the public for donations because we need to build another building for the other 3 classes."
"We have close to 5-$6,000 aside trying to fundraise to put towards the new building."
Westrac fully sponsored the renovation of the school building. It took about 2 months to complete at a cost of between 30 - $40,000 dollars. Next week is exam week so the kids will be in the new classrooms by then. As you heard, the school still needs another 3 classroom buildings and is asking for donations. So far, Royal Belize Vacation and Belmopan Comprehensive School has donated money to Holy Angels for that new project. Kids Connect also fixed the floorboard in one of the other classrooms free of cost.
Email
Print