Children fill schoolyard

School children rarely give up their break money to buy anything but ideal, chips, or sweets. But don’t tell that to these students at Buttonwood Bay Nazarene Primary School, as News 5’s Jacqueline Woods found out following a visit to the school.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting

Everyday for the past several months the children willing gave their twenty-five cents so they could have access to their playground all year round. No, there was no charge to use the field, but there was the problem of flooding.

Soraidy Torres, Member, Student Council

“Well we feel good because we did a very good job. It was a lot of effort and we succeeded and we got what we needed.”

The students managed to raise five hundred dollars to purchase five loads of sand to fill the grounds. Since the school was established in 1993, it has had its share of problems but the situation got worst after their land started to fill with water. Principal Lennox Tillett believes the flood is as a result of housing and land development in the area.

Lennox Tillett, Principal, Buttonwood Bay Nazarene Primary

“What happen is that when they filled the area that is called University Heights, when that whole area was reclaimed and filled, it caused that area that use to be for drainage–the water now backs up into the areas that was filled at lower level, and so as more and more lots around became filled higher and, the drainage was not improved, we found out that even though there use to be land over that area there, now that area is under water and we have to fill that same area all over again.”

The children, who were already cut off from a portion of their school’s two acre property decided among themselves they had to do something before the water claims rest of the land. Thirteen-year-old Soraidy Torres is one of the six students elected to spearhead the fund raising drive.

Soraidy Torres

“Well we decided to ask them to kindly donate to us twenty-five cents of their pocket money and we decided to continue this until December when school closes, but we saw that it wouldn’t be enough, so we decided to have a bake sale and a food sale, and that made it possible for us to reach our goal.”

Tillett says he is proud of the students, especially when you consider the fact that most of them are not from wealthy homes.

Lennox Tillett

“Actually when they set a goal of five hundred dollars, I thought that was definitely out of their reach. And they went and did all of their calculations and they tabulated that if they would get so much from this class and so much from that class, and if each child would donate so much, that they would be able to raise that money. They had a shortfall during the time and midway between it they decided that they needed to do a bake sale or something, so they brought that in and with two bake sales were able to raise the money for that. And I think that that is something to be applauded because it shows that if we give the children the opportunity to actually participate that they would be able to do something very constructive and that we should never underestimate them because this is awesome I think that they were able to raise that money.”

Having accomplished their first big project, the children are already looking at how they can get money to buy paint to brush up their school building. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.

If you would like to assist the students and staff of Buttonwood Bay Nazarene Primary, stop by the school on Coney Drive to find out how you can help.