The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH hardly any of their students back in the classroom because of the coronavirus pandemic, the New Providence Public Primary Schools Sports Association decided to visit them in one of the communities where they come from.

More than 30 members of the NPPPSSA showed up at Mount Olive Baptist Church on Meeting and Augusta Street on Saturday where they provided free breakfast to residents, including students, in the Bain & Grants Town constituency.

“We know this is a challenging time, so we put our resources together and we came up with the plan to distribute free breakfast in the community for the students,” said NPPPSSA president Latoya Bain-Sturrup, former middle distance runner for the Cobras at CC Sweeting.

“This is the first initiative for this year. Next month, we hope to be in the Kemp Road community. We had a lot of support from persons, who joined us in doing our part to help out some of the people in these communities.”

Evon Wisdom, the sports director in the Ministry of Education, lauded the efforts of the NPPPSSA, who are keeping the bond with the relationship they have developed with the parents and their student-athletes.

“These coaches would not have coached for an entire year now and even in the midst of not being enumerated for the thousands of dollars that they would have received, they are still giving back,” he said.

“That is what we find so interesting at the Ministry of Education, watching the coaches giving back to the communities that they get their students from to teach and providing sustenance for their parents as well.”

Dawn Knowles, a retired sports director at the Ministry, said when she heard about the gesture the NPPPSSA were embarking on, she couldn’t help but to show her support.

“Some of these students, who get breakfast at school when it’s open, have to wait from Friday to Monday to get another meal, so it was great for them to come out on Saturday and do this.

“I know they will come up with more and more initiatives,” Knowles said. “This is a smart group, I’ve worked hard with them and I know they will continue to do well.”

One aunt, Shavonne Johnson, said it’s a great initiative and she just hopes that it could be continued or mimicked by others.

“A lot of people are hurting in these communities and there’s a lot of kids who need assistance,” she said. “This is something great and we hope that they can continue to help because people need a lot of help.

“We’re just happy that they took the time out to come and share what they did today. We really appreciate this. I just want to say thank you from the community and those of us who live here.”

Alijah Whymns, a six-year-old student of Eva Hilton Primary, said she was happy for the breakfast, but she misses being in school, especially “maths and learning how to read.”

Joshua Johnson, an 11-year-old student at Woodcock Primary, said he too was pleased with the breakfast. “I am back to school. I feel good to be back, but I hope I can stay there because I don’t like doing it virtually,” he said. “I’m also happy that the teachers came here and gave us breakfast today.”

NPPPSSA public relations officer Crystal Eneas thanked all of their members, who not only showed up, but worked behind the scenes in making the event a success.

She also thanked those persons, including their schools and the general public, who assisted the association in securing the food items to distribute.

“The response was overwhelming,” she summed up. “We had a lot of people who made donations, we had a lot of people in the community who came out and the children were all excited to line up and get their breakfast.”

Eneas, a former track athlete who previously coached at Queen’s College, said they re looking forward to the same type of response when they host their next breakfast giveaway next month.