EFCCI Breaks Ground for Alta Vista Children’s Village in Bog Walk

In Proverbs 22:6, parents are exhorted to ‘Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it’. But what about those children without parents or guardians?

 

 

The Educational Foundation for Children's Care, Inc. (EFCCI), a private non-profit organization that believes that every child deserves to be raised in a stable, nurturing, familial environment, is stepping in to fill this gap.

 

 

The foundation broke ground for the Alta Vista Children’s Village in Bog Walk St. Catherine on September 19.

 

 

President of the EFCCI, Dr. Leon Wellington, says the Central Jamaica Conference (CJC) under then president Levi Johnson was instrumental in the acquisition of the property. The EFCCI plans to relocate from another property in Four Paths, Clarendon where current wards of the foundation have been housed since 2015.

 

 

“We ask that you continue to help us with this 20 million project. We want to get more children into the family so that we can give thanks to God for what they are doing and the progress they are making. Right now one of our children is in second year in the Northern Caribbean University and we have another one at the University of Technology. The others are in high school and primary school,” Wellington said.

 

 

Pastor Everett Brown, president of the Jamaica Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and Pastor Nevail Barrett, president of the CJC pledged continued support of the venture. They encourage SDA members to contribute through systematic giving. Several pastoral districts handed over contributions during the ceremony including Waterford, Portmore, Bog Walk, Spanish Town and Palm.

 

 

Representing Prime Minister Andrew Holness, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport and Member of Parliament for St. Catherine Central, Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, praised the project for helping to create a bright future for disadvantaged children.

 

 

“The government and people of Jamaica are indebted to the EFCCI  along with the SDA church in Jamaica for what they have done through the children's village in taking care of some of the neediest children in Jamaica,” she said while pledging to assist where possible.

 

 

Other religious and civic leaders and entities present to give support included East Jamaica Conference president Meric Walker represented by Pastor Owen Thomas, Northeast Jamaica Conference, CEO of Andrews Memorial Hospital, Donmayne Gyles, president of International Children’s Care, Rick Fleck, members of parliament for South Eastern St. Catherine, Robert Miller and North Central St. Catherine Natalie Neita-Garvey represented by Denice Murphy Bramwell, Custos of St. Catherine Bishop Aaron Cunningham and councillors from the St. Catherine Parish Council, St. Catherine justices of the peace, the Office of the Children’s Advocate, and the Bog Walk police.

 

 

The genesis of the project dates back 18 years.  A group of associates living in Miami came up with the idea for a children’s village in 2005.  Dr. Wellington approached the CJC, then led by Pastor Everett Brown, who assisted in finding the Four Paths property. Ten years later, in 2015, the government of Jamaica entrusted the foundation with their first ward, a boy from the Maxfield Park children’s home, and the number has grown steadily since then..

 

 

Local Chairman for EFCCI, Eric Allen, said the Bog Walk property would be able to accommodate greater expansion. 

 

 

“We plan to build 3 houses on this property and we will restore and renovate the existing one. We look forward to having [more] children entrusted to us to care for by the government of Jamaica,” Allen said.

 

 

Benefactors may donate to the project online by visiting cjconlinegiving.org and selecting “Special Projects”. Donations may also be given in CJC tithe envelopes on which the project name should be selected or written.

 

 

The groundbreaking ceremony can be viewed at this link: EFCCI ground-breaking ceremony.