The St. Kitts Sustainable Destination Council (SDC) is one such agency. Volunteers have assisted with environmental campaigns, in keeping with the mission of the SDC, which is “to ensure that development in our destination preserves and benefits our environment, culture, heritage and community.
Other organisations include ADE’s Place, a day centre that provides training for differently-abled youth, the Explorers Groups, and the St. George’s Anglican Scout Group. Youth Officer Sharon Cannonier said that the Department of Youth Empowerment is actively seeking additional requests for volunteers as there are a number of gaps in society that need to be addressed.
One suggested area was in education, particularly during classroom sessions.
“What I would like to see happen is that if the teachers would say you know I can use a few volunteers to help me when I have a math class,” she said, noting that the assistance can be for some students who may have difficulty keeping up with the pace of the teaching or grasping the concepts.
Ms. Cannonier said that the assistance can be in any subject as more than 70 percent of the Volunteer Corps attend tertiary institutions. Assistance has also been offered to the Children’s Home.
“My heart is going to lean a lot towards these persons (students) in terms of getting them the help that they require in order to move forward and not stay back in a classroom because they were a little slow in a subject and the teacher didn’t have enough time to go through it again with the students,” the youth officer stated.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education William Hodge also shares a desire to see Corps members working in the field of education. At the induction ceremony held on February 08, 2019, for the new volunteers, Mr. Hodge said: “Whatever you choose to do in the area of volunteerism, I would ask that you include going to some of our schools to volunteer your time, to work with a child or two or three children because there are students who are struggling and need the assistance.”
Individuals interested in joining the Volunteer Corps or having volunteers assigned to their non-profit activity can visit the Department of Youth Empowerment in St. Kitts on Cayon Street or telephone 467-1393.
