New home soon for Fitz-Hughes flood victim

In a few months time, Fitz-Hughes resident Florestine Spring will be living comfortably in a new home of her own.

This week, a cheque valued at Cdn $38,078 from the ADHOC Relief Committee of Toronto was handed over to the Lions Club St Vincent South, to facilitate the building of a concrete, two-bedroom {{more}}dwelling house for Spring and her family, who lost everything in the December 2013 floods.

At a ceremony on Tuesday, consul general of St Vincent and the Grenadines to Toronto, Canada, Fitzgerald Huggins explained that the ADHOC Relief Committee was formed when various diaspora groups came together and were looking for ways to help persons affected by the December 2013 floods.

“We adopted a few fund-raising ventures. We made associations with churches, radio stations, raffles and within six months, we had set a target to raise money to build one house, and within six months we met our target,” Huggins said.

The consul general explained that because the funds were raised by a charitable organization, the money could not be directly transferred to the Government to carry out the project; therefore the Lions Club South was contacted to be a part of the project.

President of the club Michael John expressed pleasure at being a part of the undertaking and noted that the club had experience managing projects of this sort.

“Rest assured that we would be good supervisors of this project,” he declared.

“The Lion’s Club organization is one of the largest service clubs in the world and projects like these have been undertaken on a daily basis.”

While the funds will go towards the construction of the house, the Government will provide the land, which is located in Cumberland and the Housing and Land Development Corporation is expected to facilitate the building and whatever other costs may be incurred.

Dr Audrey Gilkes, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Housing said the Government could not carry out all projects on its own, as it is engaged in various projects across St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Therefore, on behalf of her ministry, she expressed gratitude in being able to partner with the groups involved, who she said are carrying out their civic duty.

“The Government cannot do it alone and should not do it alone. We thank you very much for the assistance of Ms Florestine Spring and her family. We are very happy that we are at this stage today and … in no longer than three months you will be able to lie on your bed and look up at your roof and say thank you, Lord,” Gilkes said.

Spring, a 40-year-old mother of six and grandmother of six, thanked the organizations that partnered together so that she could receive her two-bedroom home in the near future.(BK)