~ Rotary to Continue Focus On Children; Lions to Continue Focus on Vision ~
PHILIPSBURG, SINT MAARTEN –– The Rotary Club of Sint Maarten and the Lions Club of Sint Maarten proudly accepted large donations from the Jump Up Casino on Saturday evening at L’Isola Restaurant in Pelican Key totaling $46,694. The donation was shared equally between the two Clubs.
Students from The Gulliver Schools of Miami, Florida, who were on island to assist with various beach clean up efforts, presented the donations to both clubs. According to Antione Akl of the Jump Up and Hollywood Casinos, “We thought it was very fitting to have students visiting our island in service to the community to present the donations to the Rotary Club of Sint Maarten and the Lions Club of Sint Maarten. The funds raised were collected during the holiday season after a progressive Bingo tournament”.
John Caputo, President of the Rotary Club of Sint Maarten, thanked the students and the Jump Up Casino for their support of Rotary. Mr. Caputo continued, “The Rotary Club of Sint Maarten is pleased to accept this large donation. These funds will be used to help us re-equip the Sister Marie Lawrence School after all the supplies, computers, smart boards, etc. were lost after the passing of Hurricane Irma. In addition, a portion of the funds were used to brighten the recent holiday season for youngsters who may not have had a visit from Santa Claus. We are grateful for this significant donation and we look forward continuing our efforts to focus on the children of Sint Maarten”.
Lion Alison Busby, President of Sint Maarten Lions Club, thanked the students for their great school work project and also the staff and management of Jump Up Casino and also to the citizens of Sint Maarten that participated at the bingo events of Jump Up casino during the month of December. A big thank you to Mr. Antoine Akl for thinking of and being a corporate sponsor of Lions Club of Sint Maarten.
Mr. Busby went onto say, “The LION Club international has 5 areas in which we are active, including Sight, Youth, Hunger, Education, and most recently, Diabetes. This donation will be used for the children’s projects of which one is ‘Eyes for a Brighter Future’ project. This was planned for October 2017, but due to the passing of Hurricane Irma, the project was postponed for a later date this year. This project entails the testing of about 4000 plus elementary school students by the VOSH organization and where eyeglasses are needed the student will receive a pair of glasses free of charge”.
