Irving Wilson School to get revamped Play Park

By Simone Tull

The Barbadian tourism product extends far beyond just sun, sand, and sea. It is also about philanthropy. This message was emphasised by the Business Development Officer for the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI) Canada Darrio Prescod. He was speaking at a presentation at the Irving Wilson School on Friday morning.

The donation was facilitated by Annie Cicvaric through the Yellow Bird Foundation, an extension of TravelWeek magazine. This initiative will ensure that the educational institution, which caters to children with special needs, is one step closer to having their play park refurbished. TravelWeek and the BTMI are hosting eleven Canadian travel agents who will participate in Run Barbados, which takes place this weekend.

They will be enjoying all that Barbados has to offer with a gamut of activities. High on their plans will be visiting local attractions and sampling local cuisine. However, the BTMI team wanted to show them a different dimension to the island’s tourism product. Prescod noted, “Volunteerism has taken off all over the world and we want to make sure that people understand that this is an opportunity that you have in Barbados as well.”

Prescod acknowledged, “Some may already be giving back in their home countries; they can also give back here.” He added, “There are so many more opportunities than just relaxing on the beach. You can give back and feel like you have made a meaningful contribution to the island, so to speak. So, this donation is definitely speaking volumes to that.” The group pooled their resources to make their monetary contribution to the project.

Prescod is excited about the prospect of being able to assist a broad spectrum of individuals though other groups coming onboard. He was especially grateful to be a part of this project with this school. He said, “It is not a place where you can just have a generic play park. You need to have a couple of special features to make sure when children are at play they are also safe, so this felt like a perfect fit.” 

The travel agents were able to tour the institution and interact with the teaching staff to get a deeper understanding of the operation.

Parliamentary Representative for the area Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw was on hand for the presentation. (STT)