Heart/NSTA Trust Leads Sprucing Up of Stimulation Plus Centre on Labour Day

The 196 students of Stimulation Plus Child Development Centre on Ostend Close in Kingston will return to a spruced-up school environment next Monday.  

HEART/NSTA Trust, in partnership with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and National Housing Trust (NHT) carried out a slew of revamping activities on Labour Day (May 23).  

Volunteers painted classrooms and the perimeter wall of the play area, ploughed the garden and planted vegetable seedlings along with palm trees, designed and painted a mural, and effected minor repairs to classrooms.  

The combined group also donated televisions, charts and teaching aids as well as linen and drapes for the sickbays.  

Portfolio Minister, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr., said Labour Day provides the opportunity for Jamaicans to focus their attention on building up their communities.  

“We are beautifying and fixing up [and] doing a garden to let these children and staff members know how important they are to us,” he pointed out. 

Mr. Charles indicated that over the next year, the Ministry will be seeking to increase the number of volunteers and support staff for the institution.  

The Centre is the Early Childhood Education arm of the Ministry’s Early Stimulation Programme for children with disabilities. 

“There is nowhere else I can think of that deserves support more than this institution that focuses on more than 190 students who are children with disabilities,” Minister Charles said.  

Early Stimulation Programme Director, Antonica Gunter-Gayle, shared that students, parents and staff will benefit greatly from the work undertaken.  

“They are providing us with a well-needed vegetable garden [and] they are doing bushing on the other side. NHT is doing painting of classrooms and repairs. I’m so excited. It’s a full transformation… 360 degrees. These companies are really repositioning the Early Stimulation Programme… and we are so excited,” Mrs. Gunter-Gayle remarked.  

HEART/NSTA Trust Managing Director, Dr. Taneisha Ingleton, shared that the agency was involved in Labour Day projects undertaken at 17 locations across Jamaica.  

“We believe in ensuring that every single Jamaican benefits from the HEART/NSTA Trust,” she said. 

The Managing Director added that volunteers in the Stimulation Plus project were lending their various skills and competencies in support of the most vulnerable. 

Dr. Ingleton further said HEART is committed to increasing access to training for vulnerable Jamaicans. 

“We have our different training programmes that are geared towards individuals who are visually impaired. We have invested millions of dollars in purchasing braille notetakers… even in our very spaces, we have different access [features] like ramps. We have invested in instructors who are able to teach our individuals who may not be at that particular physical capability,” she said.  

Meanwhile, Carlesha Ridge, who has been an educator at Stimulation Plus for eight years, expressed gratitude to the donors and volunteers.  

“We are so grateful for this opportunity. When my students come on Monday morning, they are going to open up their eyes and wonder if they are in the right classroom. They will notice the difference,” she said.  

The educator was among the staff members who received back and hand reflexology massages courtesy of HEART/NSTA trainees.  

“I do a lot of writing, so I’ve been feeling a lot of pain in the shoulders, and all of that has left the body completely courtesy of HEART’s gesture. It was excellent. I wish it were longer,” she said with a chuckle.  

Labour Day was observed under the theme ‘Ramp Up Di Access… Show That You Care’, with an emphasis on persons with disabilities, the elderly and the vulnerable.