The Sagicor Foundation on Tuesday launched its 2016 Adopt-A-School programme ahead of today’s celebration of Child’s Day, and noted that it is expected to serve more than 10 schools and over 1,000 students across the island.

The programme consists of several branches — Sagicor Bank, Sagicor Life, Sagicor Investments — combining their efforts across the island to help early childhood institutions in need.

The first set of activities is slated to begin on Labour Day, May 23, with a massive roll-out of Sagicor branch managers and team volunteers. Another set of activities will be held later in the year, focusing on back-to school needs and child wellness.

“Sagicor has a long history of giving back to our community, and that is entrenched in our vision, which is to be a great company committed to improving the lives of people in the communities in which we operate,” Sagicor Group Chairman R Danny Williams told the launch at the Courtleigh Hotel and Suites in Kingston.

 “It is through this vision that we continue to use opportunities such as this to invest in our children,” he ended.

 Ingrid Card, vice-president of marketing, Sagicor Group, concurred. “The Sagicor Adopt-A-School concept has always been important to us because we realise some of the challenges our teachers are experiencing due to limited budgets,” she said. “We are doing all that we can via the Adopt-A-School programme, as well as the other initiatives, to ensure that the children of tomorrow are given the necessary resources as they start their educational journey.”

The Adopt-A-School programme has been a part of the company’s corporate social responsibility portfolio dating back to the early 1980s.

A company release stated that the initiative works in tandem with the Ministry of Education’s mandate of ensuring a system which secures quality education and training of all citizens of Jamaica in order to optimise individual and national development.

The schools that are a part of the 2016 programme include Plantation Heights Basic, Salmon Basic, Fyffes Pen Early Childhood Institution, Kemps Hill Basic, Sandy Park Basic, Dunrobin Early Childhood Institution, Clarion Basic, Campden Early Childhood Development Centre, Allman Town Infant, and Central Branch Infant.

Source: Jamaica Observer