Stella Maris Students Receives Care Packages

Today, the students at Stella Maris School received care packages during a brief handing-over ceremony. Each package included personal care items, a bag, and a water bottle. This generous gesture was made possible through a collaboration between the school and four other organizations. News Five’s Paul Lopez was on the scene at Stella Maris and filed this report.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Today, every student at Stella Maris School received care packages to take home. These thoughtful gifts were donated thanks to a collaboration between UNICEF, the Belize City Council, the Social Security Board, and the Lions Club.

 

Sheree Salgado, Teacher, Stella Maris School

“Each student received a package today; each boy and girl and we also have some over so that we can store for them so that when they don’t have, we have for them.”

 

Paul Lopez

“How important is this support?”

 

Sheree Salgado

“Very important because we know where these students come from, we know the background of some of these students, we know the parents and so it is very important.”

 

Sharry Castillo, Treasurer of the Sub Umbra Florio Lions Club, explained that the decision to donate hygiene packages came from a desire to break away from the usual school supplies.

 

Sharie Castillo, Treasurer, Lions Sub Umbra Florio Club

“We always give school bags and we have back to school drives and they are nice initiatives. We tend to look beyond school bags. There are needs that kids have which parents cant provide and as donors, the Lion, we serve. So we tend to look more beyond a school bag and we felt like the care packages will be best for the students at Stella Maris.”

The Belize City Council and the Social Security Board chipped in financially to help procure the supplies handed out today. We got insights from Mayor Bernard Wagner and Vanessa Vellos, the Communications Manager at SSB.

 

Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City

“This is a very special occasion for us to be able to participate in an activity like this which really focus on these kids at Stella Maris. When asked to contribute to this event we were compelled to do it  and so it was a pleasure to participate in this activity. We try to spread as much as we can across the city. There is so much schools in the city. Stella Maris is special for us given the circumstance. We as a municipality try to spread the little resources we have across the city and you can see that in the works we have been doing all across our city.”

 

Vanessa Vellos, Communications Manager, S.S.B.

“Stella Maris as you know represents a school that caters to the children who have special needs at times. So, we received the request and we decided to give them a cash donation of five hundred dollars. That was given from our SDA account. So that is our role in today’s activity. We gave a cash donation and we also gave a donation of some cross body bags and some bottles, and some water bootless. It was just to give something extra beyond what we already gave them.”

 

Sheree Salgado

“We know where these students are coming from. Some of them are not able to buy something as simple as a deodorant. It is very important that, we don’t want it to stop here we want others to jump on it and continue to support our students.”

 

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez