Rotary Club of Belize Sunrise Showers Saint John Vianney with Gifts
Saint John Vianney Catholic School on Faber’s Road was showered with gifts courtesy of the Sunrise Rotary Club of Belize. Today, the students, faculty and staff were officially given the keys to a newly renovated restroom facility for the middle division students as well as fourteen laptops to add to its computer room. News Five’s Duane Moody attended the brief handing over ceremony, which was also used to present a cheque to a lucky raffle winner.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Rotary Club of Belize Sunrise adopted the south side primary school several years ago, providing much needed repairs to the education facility. Since then, a playground was installed, desktop computers donated and the experience at the institution improved. Today, the key to another renovated restroom was officially handed over to the school.
Hugo Moguel
Hugo Moguel, President, Rotary Club of Belize Sunrise
“We’ve been working at Saint John Vianney over the last three years. We started with repainting the main building, we added restrooms there. We noticed that the restrooms were in deplorable conditions and to have children using those facilities and expecting them to do well in school, well it was a no-brainer. Through our fundraising efforts at that time, we managed to get the materials, labour to renovate those restrooms. From there, we noted that the school need a playground and in partnership with the Rotary Club of Canada, we got a play set donated which we installed and we maintain. As a matter of fact, this weekend, we are coming in to do some maintenance, repairs, paint it up and get it fresh.”
The middle division restroom needed urgent repair; a portion was shut down and could not be used by the over six hundred students attending this institution. This partnership is priceless, says Principal Felix Sutherland.
Felix Sutherland
Felix Sutherland, Principal, Saint John Vianney Catholic School
“Initially, the middle division students were very jealous when the infants got theirs, now they got theirs; I imagine that the upper division students are now in their shoes when they were some months ago. The rotary has been very helpful to us, not only in bathrooms. They have partnered with us in computers, they have helped us in bathrooms, they have helped us in landfill, they have helped the community of Saint John Vianney School with playground and the parents and the general community with health facilities and to a larger extent or to a lesser extent, the Port Loyola Library.”
Unbeknownst to the school, Sunrise President Hugo Moguel was also donating fourteen laptops to the computer lab. It came as a big surprise to Principal Sutherland.
Hugo Moguel
“Last year some people saw that we donated twenty-five computers to the computer lab. Today, I have fourteen laptops to also hand over to the school.”
Felix Sutherland
“That’s welcomed news Duane. We don’t always get welcomed news, but certainly wonders never cease when it comes to rotary and for that we are always grateful. It’s always joyful anticipation.”
The event was also used to hand over a fifty thousand-dollar cheque to Larry McLaren who participated in the organization’s mega raffle earlier this year. The funds generated from the raffle helps the organization to continue in its humanitarian work.
Hugo Moguel
“We awarded the grand prize for our fifty-K raffle to Mister Larry McLaren, who’s the lucky winner. So he got fifty thousand dollars. We were selling the raffle tickets for the past few months…many of our members, all over Belize, in the city as well. And so people that wanted to contribute to a cause had the opportunity to win some cash. So it was a wonderful effort and we got a lot of support—thankfully—and so we will use the funds from that to put to work here at Saint John Vianney which is our flagship project, our flagship school in south side Belize City.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
