Nassau, The Bahamas — Random acts of kindness blessed the work of Urban Renewal’s hands this year as local charities offered financial assistance, based on the organisation’s outstanding past performance in the community.
The Help for Children programme is a community activist organisation, with a mission as advocate for children’s rights and for the protection of disadvantaged children.
It has been performing random acts of kindness in New Providence for the last 10 years.
“Initially the programme started with a group of ladies that wanted to share what they had at Christmastime and they started by assisting children at the Princess Margaret Hospital and donating teddy bears,” said Sheila Farrington Pritchard.
“We went out and worked with the Children’s Emergency Hostel, the Elizabeth Estates Children’s Home, and the Bilney Lane Home with after school reading, tutoring and mentoring programmes.
We also helped with upgrading the some of the facilities for the children.”
Mrs. Pritchard said Help for Children was attracted to Urban Renewal’s cause after reading many
articles in local newspapers.
They visited the centres, located in the heart of the depressed neighbourhoods of New Providence’s inner city.
“Last year, I read with great interest some of the articles in the press about the Urban Renewal Centres and what the managers and their teams were looking to achieve.
They were inviting the public to come and visit and see what they were doing,” said Mrs. Pritchard.
“We also approached Social Services to see where we could assist persons through their process.
Our sponsors said they would like to see us expand our influence on the youth whose parents aren’t seeking assistance.
So we thought Urban Renewal is a great place to meet that need and partner with the churches, although we are a non-denominational group.”
Corporate social responsibility is an international phenomenon that bridges the social gaps in a community by spreading compassion and understanding between disenfranchised people and businesses.
The movement is slowly taking effect in The Bahamas as more traditional businesses are becoming aware of where they could help working parents find a safe place for their children, for whom there is no supervision after school.
“It definitely is growing and our organisation has seen the banks make an effort to sponsor community projects, such as Commonwealth Bank, Scotia Bank, and First Caribbean,” said Mrs. Pritchard.
Help for Children has seen clothing companies offer discounts for buying bulk supplies to clothe children.
“Janaee’s, Sandy’s, John’s, and Bookworld have been fabulous for helping us and offering discounts for supplies.
John Bull has also been a major sponsor and have gone beyond a discount to give us as much as we need,” said Mrs. Pritchard.
Donors are more concerned about trusting that their contributions are getting into the hands of the people who really need it.
Urban Renewal offers the security that people are assessed carefully and helped based on need.
“I have met all the managers at Urban Renewal and their teams, and I am very impressed.
They have hard work to do with the children but they
all are rising to the occasion and going beyond their job,” said Mrs. Pritchard.
She said Urban Renewal is reaching more people in the community and solves social issues by filling in the void that displaces anyone caught between faith and despair.
“Urban Renewal is a place for the children to be safe until the parents get home from work.
Some of the managers stay until 7 p.m. to make sure the children are safe.
The seniors come in just to have someone to talk to and get a glass of water,” said Mrs. Pritchard.
“More people are turning to the Urban Renewal Centres in a way that I feel we want them to be developed.
It would be wonderful if they could be open into the evening hours to assess those looking for assistance.”
By Gena Gibbs
Bahamas Information Services
