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PACE Canada to Plant Trees at Adopted Basic Schools

May 5, 2007

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The Project for the Advancement of Childhood Education (PACE), Canada, will be planting trees in 45 of its adopted Jamaican basic schools to commemorate the nation’s 45th year of Independence.
President of PACE Canada, Jamaican-born Lorna King, made the announcement recently at an Adopt-A-School brunch, organized by the association in Toronto, Canada.
She said the 20 year-old organization was planting seeds in children’s minds by supporting their education and by giving them the best possible start in life.
“There is an old Chinese proverb that says when you plant a tree you rarely live to enjoy its shade. We do not know who we have helped in the past or who we will be helping in the future, but it is a good feeling to know that the shade that we have provided will help over 10,000 children this year,” she said.Mrs. King pointed out that the number of Jamaican basic schools adopted through PACE Canada has climbed to 215, a figure which has more than doubled in the past four years.
She thanked the many donors and sponsors for the group’s achievement and also attributed it, in part, to the exposure of the organization on Canadian television through a documentary called, ‘Jamaica Proud’, which chronicled the work of PACE’s founder, Jamaican-born Dr. Mavis Burke.
Noting that the work which PACE Canada was doing would benefit generations to come, Mrs. King said that, “only with advocacy, education and care will the most vulnerable and needy children be able to break the cycle of poverty, so that they can pass on to their children, the legacy of a better tomorrow.”
Highlighting other works of the organization, the President mentioned two annual bursaries, the D.R.B. Grant Scholarship given to an Early Childhood Education student at the University to the West Indies and the David Appelt Scholarship donated to an Early Childhood Education student in Toronto.
Mrs. King noted that the organization, in trying to secure computers for the basic schools, received 30 computers from Toronto-Dominion Bank and software from MicroSoft last December. She also announced that recently she received her first e-mail in Canada sent from a basic school in Jamaica, the Islington Basic School.
PACE Canada was formed in 1987 with a specific mandate to assist the Early Childhood Education sector of Jamaica, following a plea to a group of Canadian women by noted Jamaican educator, the late D.R.B. Grant.

Last Updated: May 5, 2007

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