Saint Lucia’s sole power company, LUCELEC, recently embarked on a project to expand the kitchen garden at the Stanley Jon Odlum School of Arts, Media and Design (TVET Institute). The initiative included other corporate partners.
Employees from the St Lucia Electricity Services Limited (LUCELEC) joined forces with the Stanley Jon Odlum School of Arts, Media and Design (TVET Institute) in the initiative supported by other corporate partners, including members of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force.
The project was spearheaded by the school’s Environmental Club, whose 20 student members and five supporting teachers aim to promote sustainable practices and healthy eating habits. Teacher Snaliah Mahal emphasised the garden’s dual role in supporting both the Food & Nutrition department and the school’s feeding programme.
“The kitchen garden is basically to support the Food & Nutrition department as well as our school feeding programme,” she said. “It allows us to use produce that we don’t necessarily have to buy, reducing the cost for some of our students in terms of what they need to get for their ingredients to make some of the products and some of the school-based assessments they must do. LUCELEC came on board, providing financial support, and we were able to purchase the items that we needed to assist with the expansion.”
The company’s involvement reflects its commitment to youth development, education, and environmental sustainability. Senior Manager for Corporate Communications Omari Frederick said the initiative aligns with the company’s core values.
“Volunteerism is deeply rooted in our core values or as we say, ACE-IT, which stands for accountability, caring, excellence, integrity and teamwork,” he said. “Over the last few months, our team members have been involved in several volunteer projects across the island. We believe in the power of caring and live it every day, as evidenced by our volunteers here. We are not just planting a garden for the future; we are preparing our young ones for their future.”
Inspector Alvin Faucher, who oversees the Marigot, Anse-la-Raye and Canaries Police Stations, spoke of the importance of community engagement in crime prevention.
“The initiative today was a very good one. We received a call from Ms Mahal about the agriculture project. As soon as we received the call, we realised it was in keeping with our strategies in fighting crime, namely, community policing, and this is why we came on board. We wanted the students, teachers, LUCELEC and everybody partnered in the project to see the police in a different light,” said Inspector Faucher.
The Environmental Club’s reach extends beyond agriculture science students, with plans to encourage backyard gardening and explore sustainable livelihoods through the production of teas and soaps using garden-grown materials.
