JMB SUPPORTS AEOLUS VALLEY ALL AGE SCHOOL

Kingston, Jamaica... 22 June 2009...... The Jamaica Mortgage Bank (JMB) today handed over a symbolic commitment of the bank’s contribution of $325,000 to the Aeolus Valley All Age School, located in St. Thomas, to improve sanitary convenience at the school.  The funds will be matched by Food for the Poor (FFP) Jamaica, which has already secured approval for the double sanitation units from FFP Florida.  The JMB donation will be used to cover the cost of partitions, painting, fixtures and piping.

JMB’s contribution to the school is part of Food for the Poor’s J$20 million ‘Flush for Life’ Islandwide School Sanitation Project.  The school improvement programme seeks to replace old, unsafe pit latrines with modern flush toilets, water pipes and tanks to help to ensure safety for students and to promote proper hygiene.  A total of 33 basic, primary and high schools have received modern bathroom facilities under the project, for the benefit of over 6,000 students.

Patrick Thelwell, JMB General Manager noted that when JMB was approached to support this project, the bank was happy to collaborate with Food for the Poor to provide these children with enhanced facilities.   “A team from the JMB visited the school in April and was moved by the clear need of the school for an improvement in the sanitation facilities for the students”.

Principal of the Aelous Valley All Age, Pauline Hunter expressed her deep appreciation to the Jamaica Mortgage Bank.  “Since the inception of the school over eighty years ago, pit toilets have been used and I am overjoyed to know that these improved facilities will be in place before my retirement in September this year”. 

The Aeolus Valley All Age School currently has 204 students enrolled, and its team of 13 staff members, is led by Mrs Hunter, who has worked at the school for the past 35 years.  The school has a strong academic record, with all of their GSAT students already placed.  Aeolus Valley is very active in sports and cultural competitions, and has won medals for schoolboy cricket and JCDC competitions.

ABOUT THE JAMAICA MORTGAGE BANK

The Jamaica Mortgage Bank (JMB) was established in 1971 with the mandate to finance safe and affordable housing so that all Jamaicans will have access to home ownership.

The JMB seeks to mobilize financial resources for on-lending to private and public sector developers and financial institutions, developing an active secondary mortgage market and providing mortgage indemnity insurance.