SDC Centre in St. Thomas Refurbished

The Social Development Commission (SDC) centre in Springfield, St. Thomas, has been refurbished at a cost of some $5 million.
Parish Manager of the SDC, Luther Cummings, told JIS News, that some of the work involved roof repairs, installation of an air-conditioning unit, expansion of the conference room, and the painting of the building.
In addition to renovation of the centre, extra offices were established to accommodate SDC officers, as well as representatives of the Parish Development Committee, and the Constituency Development Project Officer.
“They are on the final touches now and we are looking to move in come Monday of next week,” Mr. Cummings said, adding that the bushing and fencing of the area around the building will be completed shortly. Currently, the SDC officers are occupying the Retreat Community Centre in the parish.
Mr. Cummings said he was extremely pleased that work on the building would be completed shortly.
“For the past couple of months we have been working under great pressure, no fax machine, no internet, the office we are in is very hot, but we are good soldiers and I think it would be a great relief to move back into the surroundings that we now acquire. It will be a first class centre,” he said.
He said that a number of skills training programmes, hospitality, bar operation and early childhood training for teachers, which were conducted at the centre, will resume this month.
The Parish Manager pointed out that there were plans to improve on the skills training activities later this year, provided that funds are available.
“We are looking to expand the building to accommodate a computer lab, which will be a great asset to the students and also it will be a homework centre, for the poor kids in the area,” he added.
According to Mr. Cummings, the building was “extensively used” by community members, especially in the evenings.
“We have about six community groups that use this facility in the evening for their meetings. We have about eight football clubs that train on that field, use it as their home ground and we would like to get that facility back, as the number one facility in terms of skills training and sports,” he said.