St. Dominic High, ACE students assist
CUL DE SAC:--- A group of 41 volunteers including medical students from American University of the Caribbean (AUC) School of Medicine, Tzu Chi Foundation volunteers, St. Dominic High students and All Children's Education (ACE) Foundation pupils joined hands to spruce up the ACE school with fresh coats of paint on Saturday, September 27.
The group of volunteers, which included professional tradesmen, also helped with some minor repairs at the elementary school, which included repairing damaged walls and fixing a broken sink, cabinets and a toilet.
Volunteers painted the interior and exterior of the school building and assisted with the cleaning of the school compound. Two Tzu Chi volunteers returned on Sunday to continue to help with some additional work that needed to be done at the institution.
The volunteer effort between Tzu Chi and AUC is part of an ongoing collaboration between the two for community service at the institution.
The group of volunteers included 18 doctors-in-training from AUC, 11 ACE pupils, 10 Tzu Chi volunteers and two St. Dominic High students, who participated as part of their school's mandatory community service programme. The students will be credited for their volunteer effort as part of their community service hours.
Tzu Chi Foundation, which has been lending a helping hand to ACE for several years, provided the materials used for the exercise as well as provided edibles and beverages to the hard working volunteers.
Volunteer Davis Blanc, who participated in the exercise, said the volunteer effort had been especially rewarding for him. Blanc said he was being bogged down in his daily work routine and the effort gave his life new meaning. He enjoyed the volunteer effort so much that he stayed well beyond the 12:00pm scheduled end time to continue assisting at the school. Blanc said he felt good about himself and his efforts to assist and pledged to continue volunteering in the future.
Another volunteer affectionately referred to as "Culture," who is also a professional tradesman, said he had been grateful to use his skills to help repair some of the damages at the school, as he was aware that the institution does not have a lot of funds to do all that needs to be done.
Culture and another volunteer continued the repair work at the school on Sunday.
Tzu Chi Commissioner Sandra Cheung was very grateful to all who assisted. She extends heartfelt thanks the family of Tzu Chi volunteers as well as AUC, St. Dominic High and ACE students who all came out to assist in the successful effort.
