The Public Entity St. Eustatius and the ‘Sint Eustatius Social and Welfare Work Foundation’ signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) last Friday, May 7th, 2021. The objective is that both parties will collaborate in supporting and initiating social activities at the ‘William and Christine Flanders’ Community Center which is the property of the foundation. The collaboration is to improve the current state of the building and its facilities which need renovation.
By signing the LOI, both the Public Entity and the foundation recognize the social importance of the Community Center to the public in general and to the youth in specific. The agreement is limited to the Community Center, thereby excluding other facilities that the foundation owns or is responsible for.
Founded 1963
The Community Center on Rosemary Lane has played a central role on St. Eustatius since it was founded in 1963. It was extended twice and as there were no other facilities on the island at the time, it was ‘the place to be’. Now, almost twenty years later, the Community Center needs revival. The board members therefore took the initiative to empower a new generation of volunteers to step up and to gain and share experience on running the Community Center. A committee was formed consisting of five members between the age of 32-46 years. With the committee, a new generation has emerged to preserve the programming and management of the facilities for future generations, with the support of the board.
With the committee in place, efforts are joined so that the Community Center can once again flourish and remain preserved for future generations. The facilities offer a wide range of opportunities from talent shows, sports tournaments, bingo nights, concerts and events to activities for youth.
In order to achieve the objectives for the Community Center, the Public Entity works along to allocate additional funding. Latter is in addition to the approved funding that the committee was able to obtain from Oranje Fonds, which is part of the ‘ Samenwerkende Fondsen Cariben’ (SFC). SFC was founded to support social initiatives in the Caribbean part of the Dutch Kingdom.