If you happened to be driving along the Western Main Road, St James recently, you would have seen a group of art students from St George's College, Barataria–along with their Visual Arts teacher Melissha Walcott-Gittens–happily toiling away in the sunshine with their paints and brushes to create a cartoon inspired mural on the outside of the Child Welfare League of T&T.
The establishment functions as a day care facility and kindergarten for the underprivileged, and currently houses average of 37 children (plus 18 pre-schoolers), five caregivers and one teacher, and was in need of a much needed refurbishment.
This project came about through Scotiabank's Bright Future programme, an initiative of Scotiabank's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR); the foundation for Scotiabank's philanthropic efforts of corporate giving and employee volunteerism. The timing of this particular project was perfect, as the talented Georgian Art Group had previously done a similar painting project recently in Las Cuevas as part of Scotiabank's Corporate Banking Centre's Bright Future project. According to Walcott-Gittens, this project was a perfect fit for the class.
"This is more than just painting a wall for us. This is an art experience," Walcott-Gittens said proudly. "Chloe Lewis (one of my students) has an aunt (Sherma Browne) at Scotia as well and she had met with Ms Mc Pherson during the week about getting on board. With nine panels to paint, we pre-planned, deciding on the lettering, did the cutting, etc. But we had to make some adjustments from day one; there was a doubles vendor there, so we couldn't start on the panels on either side of them."
Painting began in earnest on a section opposite American Stores, with the most technical parts of the job (including the Child Welfare League's logo) being worked on first, using emulsion paints provided by Scotiabank. When the vendor left, Curious George and the Adventure Time characters were started, keeping company with St George's art mural. And as expected, the weather proved to be the biggest challenge of all.
"We got the boiling sun the first three days which was good for us...well, it wasn't good for our faces and skin, but it was good in terms of paint application and drying, so we were able to execute a lot," Walcott-Gittens said, laughing. "We'd work from 9.30 am to 3 pm; thankfully we had some shade in the evening. By day four though, we experienced weather changes, so things slowed down a bit, but the largest contingent came to paint on that day, about 20 people, including family and friends of students from other schools."
The wall, however, is just one part of the massive undertaking to get the Child Welfare League up to mark. Scotiabank's chief auditor Vanessa Mc Pherson, general manager Gayle Pazos, and general manager - compliance Jason Narinesingh were instrumental in assisting League staff in creating a sanctuary for its children–they even got their hands dirty too.
"We did some cleaning and gave the institution some tender loving care," said a happy Mc Pherson.
"The kids had nowhere to play, even the swings were mashed up. So we purchased a swing set, donated fans, refurbished and repainted all the cribs, benches and internal and external walls. The roof was leaking as well so we fixed that too, and of course, the St George's students have done a wonderful job thus far with the outside wall."
"The way the Bright Future Program works is that Scotiabank actually donates a dollar sum," Pazos explained. "In this case Scotiabank donated $10,000 as it was a good project to embark upon and the staff involved raised three times the amount. So we were able to fund the repairs and contribute in terms of labour, which took about five weeks to complete."
A smiling Bernadette McKie, who has been with the League for 33 years, also admitted that she was "so happy that Vanessa and the Scotiabank team came to help us all.
"For those who don't know, this wall wasn't always here; there used to be a wire fence before. (Incidentally, the wall was built five years ago by First Line Security, whose CEO was actually a baby at the nursery.)
"Now he has his own business, and his actual watchwords are Put Children First. He came to us back then and wanted to help, and did the wall and fixed up the outside of the building for us. It was his way of giving back."
Giving back is a phrase that's been echoed throughout this entire exercise, and Narinesingh cemented the effort. "We are just pleased to be a bridge. When we looked at the philosophy behind the Child Welfare League and about the arts touching the lives of children, it's all about Scotiabank giving back and helping to make our communities better. This was the perfect marriage of all our philosophies; it's all about the children and what they need. I was not even aware that the league was established since 1918, and the story was a bit lost, but we were able to give it a voice again and give some more awareness to the cause. This bridge between art and a corporation, we feel very blessed and are in awe of what we accomplished here."
"I know where these children want to go and what they want to achieve," Walcott-Gittens concluded.
"We're not just art students at St Georges. We want to leave a mark and give back as well. It's a lesson that I'm also trying to instil in my sons, to get involved wherever you can. If someone needs help, get involved. It's not always about getting paid, it's about giving."
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Students involved in the Child Welfare League Community Project 2015 are:
Melissha Walcott-Gittens � Visual arts Teacher & Artistic Director of the Group, est. 2005
Georgian Youth Artists
Sophia Strachan � past Georgian student, started Visual Arts Degree
Chloe Lewis � Group President, Form 6
Ayoda Samuel � Vice President, Form 6
Tajuana Hernandez � Upper 6 transfer student
Syckelle Hernandez � Upper 6 transfer student
Zara Reyes � Form 5
Chalay Cupidore � Form 4
Kyla Richardson � Form 4
Aneelah Muhammed � Form 4
Djorn Seales � Form 4
Matthew Donald � Form 3
Mark Donald - Form 3
Joel Cherry � Friend of Matthew and Mark, student at Queen's Royal College
Ronaldo Grant � Friend of Chalay, Student at Tunapuna Secondary School
Mariella Francis � Polytechnic student and past student Barataria Secondary
Rene Calder � Past student of Mucurapo East Secondary
Antonio Butts � Guyanese Artist and friend of the group
Jabari Mc knight � Fifth form student
Javaughn Forde � Fifth form student
Glenda Walcott � Mother of Artistic Director
Anthony Gittens � Husband of Artistic Director
Rosanna Pran � Aunt of Artistic Director