St. Peters:--- A group of concerned residents in the St. Peters community met on Thursday evening June 9th, with residents of the community, to discuss establishing a Community Council. The district has been missing out on aid in times of disaster due to a lack of proper representation. A recognized Community Council could assist residents of St. Peters in times of disaster with support from NGOs, the Government, and other funding agencies. The concerned St. Peters group includes Ashma Berkel, Eva Williams, Clifton Wilson, Aramis Halley, Jr., Beatrice George, and Reginald Richardson – The group was supported by Ms. Chantale Groeneveldt & Mr. Riegnald Arrindell of the Community Development Department (Ministry VSA).
According to Mr. R. Richardson, the first tasks of the Community Council would be to primarily focus on seniors and youth, prepare for the Hurricane Season, and designate deputies within zones for easier access when needs emerge. Once the Council has been established and formally introduced, a registration drive would be in place to assess the needs of the St. Peters district. Ms. C. Groeneveldt thanked community residents for coming out and showing interest to form such a Council that can formally support aid to the community. Establishing a CERT Team as first responders within the community is also a top priority of the Council with hopes of possibly merging with the current St. Peters Emergency Group. Although the role of a Community Council is volunteer-based, it is imperative to get key people involved – especially in terms of identifying vulnerability, exposure, and risks for Disaster Risk Reduction prior to the actual disaster as outlined by Ms. E. Williams.
The group urges residents of St. Peters to register if they would like to be part of the board, or be a community volunteer – at the moment the board has a capacity of max 7 members. One must be a resident of St. Peters and over 18 years old.
Registration can be done at http://bit.ly/spboardmembers
