RE Promotions hosts back-to-school drive in Tobago

RE Promotions is on a back-to-school drive. -

RE (Ripple Effect) Promotions, a Tobago-based non-government organisation (NGO), is helping parents and guardians, for the tenth time, complete their back-to-school shopping for their children.

RE, an NGO registered in 2012 and led by director Kleon McPherson, has been hosting a charity school-drive distribution since 2015, which has brought some relief to families.

Speaking with Newsday on August 14, McPherson said over the past ten years, the company has been assisting the underprivileged and special-needs children on the island. Over 100 students, he said, will receive stationery and other important school supplies such as schoolbags, notebooks, exercise books, pens, pencils, rulers, erasers, sharpeners and other items.

“Just in the capacity of the children, we always try to assist where we could. Along with school supplies, we have some grocery hampers and haircut vouchers amongst others to be distributed. We are trying to do where each family get not only the school supplies but groceries or something tangible that they can use towards their children.”

Students from both the Happy Haven School along with the School for the Deaf, Speech and Hearing Impaired will be among the hundreds of students benefiting from the drive, which will take place on August 21 at the Shaw Park Cultural Complex. The organisation, he said, raises funds throughout the year by hosting various social events to cater to this initiative.

“To me, this is our civic duty being an entertainment entity where we don’t just provide entertainment and fun in terms of parties but also giving back in some tangible way to the communities and assisting in the development of children.”

The drive, he said, started off as a community initiative to help parents who could not afford to buy their children's materials or support them for the new term.

“We know that the economic situation on the island may not be the best or favourable. Whether our impacts be small or large, we know definitely that we are making a dent. Since we started, we have provided for more than 1,000 students and we’re still going strong in that regard."

He said in addition to special-needs students, those at all levels are catered to – early childhood, primary school and secondary schools.

Most recipients, he said, pre-register for the packages, but the NGO also caters to walk-ins.

“We usually purchase all the items; we do a listing based on recommendations most times from the THA Division of Education and on our own. We do our research to narrow the list basically, but we do our own purchases but sometimes we have sponsors or contributors in that regard.”

During the covid19 pandemic, he said, the initiative was adjusted to suit the needs.

“During that period we had a drive, it was a bit challenging but we made it through because at that point in time we assisted with various tablets as everything was online. We pulled it through and we were able to provide students with these gadgets so they could have been online and able to learn.”

He said the feedback has been tremendous.

“Everybody was grateful, even those who we were unable to help, they just appreciated that we tried.”

This year's event will include a feature address by clinical physiologist Dr Alina Williams.

“Being a psychologist, especially a clinical one, a lot times our society overlooks mental health, and we wanted to shed light not only on this but information to prospective families as it may be challenging for them not only​ financially but mentally as well.”