The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Sandals Foundation has pumped $26,000 into improvements for the LN Coakley High School in Exuma, an initiative which Sandals Resort CEO Adam Stewart called an important community building project.

Stewart toured the facility for the first time since the infrastructure changes were made which include a new computer lab, improvements to the home economics room and a brand new basketball court.

“The is the first time I am actually coming here and seeing it for myself and I am very proud. I hope everybody puts it to good use. I hope they mark up the Sandals Foundation logo and scratch it up with lots of use and we will come back and paint it back on there. It is never cheap to build in the out islands, it is a lot of money but I think it will go to great use.

“What is most important is that I hope the community feels that way too,” Stewart said. “A major fundamental aspect of the Sandals Foundation is to focus on the community. That was in place years before we even got to Exuma but now that we are here we are trying to move that tradition forward. If you really look at a community and you look at how you can best help, we really believe education is a major part of that. Supporting the school is a fundamental part of what we believe we should be doing, and naturally an extension of that is sport.

“Beyond the Bahamas in the islands too often we are seeing kids just not having enough to do in the afternoons, not be a part of a team and they don’t have that type of family. Where we have stepped in and done this before we have seen huge dividends as it relates to its effects on crime, team building, leadership and sportsmanship. These are things that the Sandals Foundation and the Sandals Group believe.”

The project began in July under the oversight of local contractor Cornell Armbrister.

LN Coakley, the island’s only high school, was adopted by the Sandals Foundation and has since been the recipient of several donations.

“We have built three computer labs on the island so far and at the end of the year we are trying to complete four more in four additional schools in Exuma. We are trying to do a similar exercise with the hospital itself. I think it is going to be an amazing facility by any standard for any facility in the Caribbean,” Stewart said.

“I think that is our focus right until the end of the year. We just have to keep the projects relevant. We work with our customers and try and get them as involved as possible. Not planning years off, but looking closely at the next six months and the four computer labs I think that will be fantastic to the island if we can get that done.

“We have big plans for this island and we want to put more roots in the ground.”