Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau:

Sandals group chairman Gordon 'Butch' Stewart pledged over $1 million to assist the Flankers, St. James community's Peace and Justice Centre during a tour of the area last Thursday.

"This relation started over 25 years ago and has gotten better with each passing day," Mr. Stewart said. "We at Sandals will continue to seek out ways and means of addressing some of the needs of the community and so far, I think we have done a wonderful job."

The Peace and Justice Centre, which also functions as an evening learning institute, received just over $250,000 from the Sandals Group, which was used to start the expansion programme, which also benefited from the input of the community.

"The work could not have been done without the tremendous support which Sandals has received from members of the community," said Mr. Stewart, in praising the involvement of the community. "This a partnership we value and will continue to build on."

Following the donation, head of the Peace and Justice Centre, Marilyn Nash, said the donation has once again demonstrated the company's willingness to assist in improving the quality of life in the community.

"We are supremely proud of the relationship which we have with the resort chain and this is yet another tangible display of the company's support for the community," she said

Relationship

The relationship between Sandals and Flankers was borne out of an expressed desire by Sandals Montego Bay General Manager Horace Peterkin to help the community to confront and overcome unemployment, the absence of training opportunities and a simmering crime problem.

"Currently, over 25 per cent of our staff is from this community," said Mr. Peterkin, in further explaining the synergy between Sandals and Flankers. "Today's is another way of showing that we are committed to the overall development of Flankers," he said.

In a bid to create training and employment opportunity for young people in Flankers, Sandals initiated a programme in 2003 called START (Sandals Training And Recruitment Tier), which offers training in areas such as food and beverage (kitchen, bar and sanitation), engineering (AC/refrigeration, stove technician/plumbing, room technician) and entertainment. It is now an annual project.