President’s Message March 2023
Dear Members, Supporters, Partners and Friends,
We at PACE Canada, and I hope you did too, were relieved that 2022 seemed much more “normal” with opportunities to travel, hold in-person events, restaurant visits, and attend various social and community activities here in Toronto and in Jamaica.
However, the PACE Board continues to meet virtually. Our first in-person event with members was the December annual holiday event and toy drive held at the very impressive Blackhurst Cultural Centre, thanks to the ongoing support for PACE by Managing Director Itah Sadu. Another in person event is being planned for this Fall and the Board is actively planning this event.
In April 2022 I travelled to Jamaica where I had update meetings with the Early Childhood Commission (ECC) and visited a few sponsored schools to see how they were using the new “OneTab” educational devices. Seems they want to get some more so we have a fundraising initiative underway to reach out to Corporations and Foundations to raise the $100, 000 needed to purchase another 1000 devices. Our ECC and Jamaica National Education Trust partnership were excellent in getting the devices to schools and students, thanks to more ease of travel. The ECC advised that delivering the Adopt-A-School donations were also becoming more streamlined and moving to online payment transfers for some schools was improving the process.
PACE continues to participate in the JCA’s Walkathon which was held in May last year. We would also thank Helping Hands for their continued support of the Jamaica Basic Schools though PACE programs.
The PACE Jamaica 60th contest challenge to the sponsored schools in Jamaica is now over and 5 Basic Schools have been selected to receive the top prize of a catered lunch at their school. Special thanks to these local restaurants in Jamaica who will be doing the catering: ROJ Group, Dominos, Island Grill, and Tastees. An event is planned for March 24 in Kingston to announce these schools and present them with their awards.
A special congratulations to our Patrons Dr. Pamela Appelt, Dr. Rita Cox, Kamala-Jean Gopie and Denham Jolly who all received more awards last year for their outstanding achievements. More information is provided in our Spring newsletter. We are very honoured to have these Patrons to provide advice and support to PACE.
Thank you all for your continued support in Helping Young Children Succeed through the efforts of PACE Canada and our partners and community.
Diana Burke, President P.A.C.E. (Canada)
