Carlton Barclay, Managing Director of The National Building Society of Cayman made good on a promise this week, presenting the Cayman Islands Further Education College – CIFEC with a brand new Microwave oven for their newly renovated kitchen. When Mr Barclay had heard about the good work that Feed our Future do in the community, and the need to provide hot meals for hungry kids at CIFEC he was keen to help.

“The National Building Society of Cayman admire the work Feed our Future is doing in the community to tackle child hunger, and when we heard about this opportunity to help the kids at CIFEC get access to hot meals, we jumped at it.”

Stacey Van De Velde of Feed our Future added “Every day teachers, principals and counsellors in schools across the Cayman Islands see students who cannot thrive because of hunger.  Their parents or caretakers simply do not have enough food at home to feed them or a means to provide food for them at school. Through the generosity of our donors, like NBSC, Feed Our Future is able to help school counselors maintain a limited supply of healthy food and snack items to offer to hungry children that turn up at their door.  The added support of a microwave for the School Counsellors pantry enables them to offer up more meaningful nourishment to fuel these emerging scholars.

A simple gesture of a cup of warm soup can be enough to help that child face the challenges of the day.  CIFEC students in particular are at a critical stage as they work to conclude their secondary education and arm themselves with the knowledge and skills necessary to aide their transition to the real world.”

Paulette Gayle, School Counsellor at CIFEC said “Through the meal assistance programme, we are able to offer students something light to eat during the school day.  Some of the foods offered are porridge, cereal, cup soups, macaroni and cheese, hot cocoa, and cookies.   Now that we have a microwave we will be able to offer a greater variety of foods.”

“The programme serves approximately 10 to 15 students on a regular basis, but this number varies as family circumstances change.”

“The food contribution comes from a number of sources, our main sponsors Feed Our Future (FOF), Kirk Supermarket which was organized through Mr. Michael Myles (Education Department), and our very own staff, Mrs. Delores Thompson (director of CIFEC),  Mr. Lazzari (Deputy Director, CIFEC), Mr. Bush (SENCO), along with other teachers, including myself.”

On behalf of all of us at CIFEC, staff and students alike, would like to thank the National Building Society of Cayman very much for their kind donation.

IMAGE: From left to right in the picture -Paulette Gayle – School Counsellor

Delores Thompson – Director of CIFEC, Carlton Barclay – Managing Director, National Building Society of Cayman, Stacey Van De Velde – Feed Our Future