The School for Blind Children and the Autistic Society of Trinidad and Tobago both recently got a helping hand with improving conditions at their facilities, from several Flow Trinidad employees during the company’s annual “Mission Week” event.
A release from Flow explains that all Flow sister companies across the Caribbean and Latin American were involved in “Mission Week” activities in their respective countries. This year, some 80 Flow Trinidad team members offered practical support to institutions that provide learning spaces for children with disabilities.
“Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, Flow assisted to ensure clean work and learning spaces at the respective institutions,” the Flow release said.
The School for Blind Children, which was relocated to Five Rivers in 2018, received assistance with deep cleaning, sanitizing and painting of the building; while the Autistic Society had help getting its Resource Room at the D’Abadie centre properly arranged.
“The cleaning and sanitizing couldn’t have come at a better time. Flow has helped us do some painting of the Principal’s office and the classrooms with special anti-fungal paint. That would assist in beating the mould issue we have here,” said Derrick Mundy, Principal at the School for Blind Children.
“Flow is a winner by providing accessibility to education via communication, health and safety for our children with visual impairment,” he added.
The Autistic Society is located on one acre of Testrail Lands, which was donated by the Landowning family in 2008. The Flow team cleared the room of the wooden paneling and shelving, repainted the entire room, and installed new shelves in its place.
Flow staff members paint the Resource Room at the Autistic Society. Image courtesy Flow Trinidad.
“We have been putting this room off our to-do list because of COVID, because we didn’t want people to overextend themselves and donate money that they don’t necessarily have. We understand the current economic situation,” said Amoy Boodoo, of the Autistic Society of Trinidad and Tobago.
Noting she was very grateful for the help in getting the Resource Room organised, Amoy Boodoo added: “While the Resource Room may not seem a must-do, it served as the Autistic Society’s teaching aids room and a necessary place to store books and other items that assist students in their learning journey. The panels and wooden shelving units were termite infested and they needed to be removed and replaced with metal units, to avoid further damage to the items stored in the room.”
Flow stated that its annual “Mission Week” series of events is guided by its four pillars of corporate social responsibility: Learning, Environment, Access and Disaster Relief. According to the company, the intention is to support initiatives that have a meaningful impact across its business, and which benefit the communities they serve.
“Our communities are so much more than locations for our business. It’s where we live, where our families grow, where we celebrate and connect,” said Michael Coakley, VP Communications, Liberty Latin America, parent company of Cable and Wireless and Flow.
“With our company-wide volunteering initiative, Mission Week, over 1,000 employees came together to make a positive impact in the areas of learning, environment, access, and disaster relief. When our communities thrive, we all win,” he added.
And Flow’s Country Manager for Trinidad and Tobago, Kurleigh Prescod noted: “The two days of volunteering served as a reminder that communities need our help. Mission Day continues to serve as a reminder that the simplest of support makes a big difference.”
“We are happy to have responded to the call from both learning institutions and we hope our support will help make their facilities a better place within which to learn for the young students,” he said.
