Holy Angels RC School Boast Newly Refurbished Building Courtesy Westrac Ltd.
Three months ago, a school building at Holy Angels RC School was shut down by health officials after the structure became infested with rodents and termites. More than one hundred students were at risk and the school began soliciting funds to refurbish the structure. Much of its plea to the Catholic management fell on deaf ears and as such, the principal turned to the media for assistance. After first airing the story in March, many businesses and private citizens have been assisting the school. One of those companies is Westrac Limited, which decided to refurbish and remodel the school building free of cost. Works began two months ago and were recently completed. News Five’s Hipolito Novelo was in Pomona Village today for a short ribbon-cutting ceremony and files the following report.
Hipolito Novelo, Reporting
For an extended period of time, this dilapidated building at Holy Angels RC School in Pomona housed students from Infant One through Standard One. One hundred and sixteen students were crammed into three rooms and separated into six classrooms. The problem became worse when bats, termites and rats began infesting the building. Low on funds, the school made a public plea, asking for financial assistance to repair the structure after the Catholic management of the school proved to be little help. Westrac Limited saw the needs of the school and two months ago, work on the building began. This morning, a short ribbon cutting ceremony was held. Julian Thiessen is a representative of Westrac Limited
Julian Thiessen
Julian Thiessen, Westrac Limited
“The school was shut down primarily because of the bugs and the bats coming through. I know the roof was really rusted. Initially the idea was to change the roof and the rafters. But when we realized that the wooden walls inside were damaged as well we decided to do a full renovation. So we replaced the broken rafters, the roof and added a ceiling to make it comfortable and re-did the inside with permanent walls. Also, we repainted the whole thing and so we decided to do a full renovation.”
According to Thiessen, the remodeling and refurbishment came at a cost of more than thirty thousand dollars. Principal Sadie Asevedo says the assistance is a tremendous relief for the school but most importantly for the students.
Sadie Asevedo
Sadie Asevedo, Principal, Holy Angels School
“We are really happy. We are grateful. We really appreciate the work that Westrac and Mr. Julian and his team did for us. The kids are really excited. The teachers are really happy. We have a new classroom. The students will be here. We have more space so the kids are really excited. It is more conducive to learning. It is spacious, ventilation and is more comfortable for the students to learn in.”
Today’s ceremony was held under the theme, “Education and Inspiration’ with the hope to encourage businesses and individuals to extend a helping hand.
Sadie Asevedo
“This is a big help. It is a bit relieving knowing that we don’t have to focus on this building now since the team at Westrac assisted us with that. Now our focus is just the new building. We are really grateful for this. It came as a big help so we thank them for it.”
Julian Thiessen
“They have been really excited. They have been telling us the needs, how big it was and how big of a help it was. We walked in and we saw previously how full and packed it was and how they kind of had forced the walls. There wasn’t proper exits. So they were just ecstatic about it. We are happy about it too. We really like the outcome.”
Hipolito Novelo, News Five.
