2024 President’s Report of Activity
I am delighted to report on our achievements over 2024 and, in particular, the renewal of the Board of Directors. In particular, I would like to welcome Terran Moss, Daisy Tyson and Gabi Wolff. We also introduced three standing board roles for the Principals of the three Cat Island Schools and am delighted that Dr. Bennique Brown and Ms. Willette Rolle join me in enriching the students live’s through opportunities to travel, learn and compete.
I would first like to thank our donors and volunteers, including the Global Environment Fund’s Small Grant Program, winter residents who have donated but time and money and the many community and student volunteers who have helped us along the way.
Looking back over the year, this is the status of our work.
“Smart Farming”—The two Sunshine Tutorial Farms at Old Bight High School and Arthur’s Town Comprehensive School are producing plentiful bounty crops after a couple years hard work hacking, building the solar and drip irrigation infrastructure and improving the soil. The students are selling their produce, learning to love farming and how to run their own business. The water capture and drip irrigation is allowing them to now plant a second crop now for the first time during the drought season! We also started a vegetable garden at Old Bight Primary School, which is now producing.
“Composter Cookers”—In the Bahamas, soil quality can be a challenge for farmers. To address this, the students are building 46 composters at OBHS and ATCS and we have local volunteers to tend the composters while cooking. This project is scheduled to start in early 2025
“Environmental initiatives in 2024 including organizing the 10th annualCat Island Earth Day Festival, recycling aluminum cans to Cans 4 Kids in Nassau and sponsoring Summer Safari, in partnership with BNT.
Youth leadership: We continued to promote Young Entrepreneurs who compete and pitch their business ideas at an annual Shark Tank competition. This year, we had eight winning students who participated in the Youth Exchange at Bell High School, Washington DC and internships at the Bahamas National Trust.
Community health: We raised money to purchase an x-ray machine and dental x-ray, both of which have been made available to Cat Islanders covered by NIH at the Smith Bay Clinic and the three government clinics. Training of the x-ray technician is nearly complete and we expect both the dental and x-ray machines to be operational in early 2025.
Marine protected areas (MPAs) We worked to raise awareness of the five MPAs on Cat Island, posting maps of the areas and with a booth at the Earth Day festival. We also are in discussions with the Department of Marine Resources on how to further strengthen and preserve these fragile eco-systems, while respecting the important fishing interests of the local community. This is a work in progress that we hope to advance in 2025.