By:Curtis Morton
Charlestown-Nevis-Director of the Social Services Department, Mrs. Sandra Maynard, expressed gratitude this week to American born, Mr. Dennis Thomas who voluntarily came forward to offer tile laying classes to interested residents on the island of Nevis.
She pointed out that when the offer was made, her department was implementing certain plans and projects for at risk youths and persons in conflict with the law and the classes were a great addition to the plans.
Mr. Thomas for his part, noted that he started visiting Nevis with his wife, about five years ago and absolutely fell in love with the island but more importantly, with the warm and friendly people who live here.
He indicated that he saw a need to ‘teach people to fish’ and when he expressed his desire, Mrs. Maynard and the Nevis Island Administration gave him the green light.
He stated that he commenced teaching the participants, how to install wall tiles but that has been extended to teaching them how to install floor tiles as well.
According to Mrs. Maynard, classes are conducted for youths at mornings and a class for women is conducted at afternoons, which is a part of the nontraditional occupations classes being conducted for women, by the department.
The classes are held at the Administration building in Charlestown and involve ten young participants for the morning sessions. The afternoon classes involve about ten women.
As a result of the classes, Mr. Thomas also led the participants into a tiling project at the Ivor Walters Primary School, where they are tiling certain areas of the school, free of cost.
Headmistress Janice Richards expressed her profound thanks to Mr. Thomas and his team for their kind generosity.
One of the participants who gave his name as TUCKS gave his feedback on the program. He stated that he was told about the program by his sister and indicated that he has learnt a lot and thanked Mr. Thomas who he described as ‘a man with a big heart.’
He also gave his telephone number as 664-4942, with the intention that once he completes the course, persons can contact him for tiling appointments in the future.