Mico Outreach Care Centre gets $250,000 Donation

The Manchester Chapter of the Mico Old Students Association has presented a cheque valued at $250,000 to the Mico College outreach care centre, which caters to the needs of children with learning disabilities who reside in central Jamaica.
Speaking at the presentation ceremony held at Golf View Hotel recently, President of the Association, Ruddy Brown said it was his hope that the gift would make a significant difference in the life of the institution.
“I have to thank our members and our many sponsors that made this donation possible for this very worthy cause,” he said.
Accepting the donation, Director of the centre, Angelita Arnold indicated that the money provided would be used to hire a technical specialist to work with the children with special needs.
“As you may be aware, the first Mico Care Centre was constructed in Kingston some 25 years ago through the effort of the government of Jamaica, and since that time we have assessed and helped over 40,000 students who suffer from some form of learning disability,” she said.
Miss Arnold said that the standards developed under the assessment system by the Mico Centre was world class.
“We are the only such facility that exists in the English-speaking Caribbean. The only other country that we know have a similar system in place is Cuba,” she said.
Miss Arnold pointed out that the centre in Kingston was funded mainly by the government of Jamaica.
“This means that we have to find somewhere in the region of $3 million per annum to support the outreach centre that is located at Ridgemount, and I have to say that if it were not for the fact that the church supported us by offering the space, we would not be here,” she said.
Miss Arnold explained that the care centre also provided programmes that targeted parents.”These people are taught ways and means of dealing with their children as well as proper parenting skills,” she said.