13th Feburary 2010
Kiwanis take holistic approach to assisting needy family

The Kiwanis Club of Castries recently completed what the Club considers a holistic approach to assisting the Laurencin family of Desrameaux quarter of Gros-Islet.32 year old Briget Laurencin was up until 3months ago an unemployed mother of two young girls Charlene age 14 and Faye age 13.She originally had four children but due to her destitute situation two of the children had to be removed from her care into foster homes.
Ms.Laurencin’s plight was brought to the Kiwanis Club of Castries’s attention 5 years ago by some members of the Roman Catholic Church who sought the Club’s assistance in constructing a small chattel house to help alleviate her plight as she and her children were living in squalor. At that time the club sourced some building materials and with help from the Church and some private citizens completed the house which allowed her and her children to move into a slightly better environment.
The Kiwanis Club was again called to assist after visiting the home in December 2008 to deliver a Christmas Grocery Hamper to the family. While there it was brought to our attention that the plywood of which the exterior walls are made had rotted away and water was seeping into the house when it rained. In addition we learned that the 2 children who attended the Marigot Secondary and the Bocage Secondary Schools respectively missed school on a regular basis due to the fact that Ms Laurencin was unemployed and simply did not have the means to send them to school.

The Kiwanis Club agreed to take a holistic approach to the problems confronting the family and made the following interventions:
1. Purchased13 Sheets of Exterior plywood to replace the rotted ones.
2. Arranged for the transfer of both children to the Gros-Islet Secondary School.
3. Arranged transportation to and from Desrameaux to the Monchy/Castries Gros-Islet Highway Gap.
4. Arranged transportation through the Ministry of Education from the Monchy gap to the Gros-Islet
Secondary School and back.
5. Purchased School uniforms and supplies for the 2 children.
6. Requested and received from the Ministry of Education a waiver of the Facilities Fees to the Gros-Islet
Secondary School for both Children.
7. Approached the Hope Programme with the view to obtaining employment for mother Bridget Laurencin.
Through the efforts of SSDF Executive Director Mr. Joachim Henry and Field Officer Ms. Jennifer Walter
Ms. Laurencin employment commenced in November 2009. Unfortunately due to funding constraints recently experienced by the Hope Project Ms. Laurencin is presently unemployed but is hoping to regain employment once the project restarts after the Budget approval in April this year.
In addition the members of the Kiwanis Club of Castries recently completed the repainting of the entire house thanks to the donation of a quantity of paint from Harris Paints (St.Lucia) Ltd. Last week the family also received a food hamper compliments the Kiwanis Club.

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