Roughly three dozen families in the Ninth District will benefit from food and school-uniform gift vouchers to assist with back-to-school preparations.

Ninth District Representative Vincent Wheatley told BVI News on Sunday that this is to ensure every school-aged child feels loved.

“If you are going to build a country, you have to empower people and the children must feel cared for and loved and how you are going to do that is to make sure they have food to eat, they have books, supplies, they have clean uniforms, their hair is cut and washed or styled, so they don’t feel less than anybody else,” Wheatley said.

“We have probably $3,000 to $4,000 worth of vouchers, and those are for persons who are unemployed and haven’t worked for years.”

Wheatley said the beneficiaries, who were identified by the schools in his district, will receive the assistance at their homes “in private”.

Back to school fiesta

In the meantime, this latest initiative comes following a massive back-to-school welfare effort on Virgin Gorda on Saturday.

The event was to assist parents with school supplies for their children while providing a fun-filled environment for the family.

“It was a phenomenal day. We had about 45 sponsors,” Wheatley told BVI News.

The undertaking came at the cost of over $15,000.

School reopens next week

As the summer break comes to an end, schools will resume next week. The Ministry of Education said the Advent Term for all public schools begins on Monday, September 2.

“New and transfer students of secondary and primary schools are expected to report to school on Wednesday, September 4. All returning students are expected to report to school on September 5 and 6. Classes begin on Monday, September 9, for all public schools,” the ministry said in a recent media release.