Foresee Foundation board members (from left) Sjorensly Valies, John de Vroom, Alston Lourens, Jose Verschueren-Sommers, Leonaris Lloyd, Melissa Gumbs and Marvio Cooks.
PHILIPSBURG--Foresee (4C) Foundation said all seven of its board members came together on December 31, 2019, to evaluate the past year and “gear up” for 2020.
The foundation said 2019 was a symbolic year when it executed several large projects and started new projects due to the financial support of several local and international funding agencies, the business community, and private persons.
“Fifteen St. Maarten post-Hurricane Irma educational projects were nearly completed with the financial support of Windsong International Foundation. These projects will be closed off with the official launch of the third and last large playground at Seventh-Day Adventist School during the second week of January.
“Other items in this project included uniforms for schools and foster-home children, educational materials, IT [information technology – Ed.] equipment, financial aid for afterschool programmes, cultural educational support, and more. This was a project with a total value of US $150,000,” said Foresee Foundation in a press release on Thursday.
The foundation said one of its other major ventures, called the “Soualiga project”, was made possible by a private local donation. This enabled the foundation to assist more schools and social organisations.
“Recently, two [Roman] Catholic schools and Excellence Learning Academy received laptops/tablets to enable them to implement and integrate additional information technology in their schools. These were three donations out of more than 10 organisations that benefitted from this project so far,” said the foundation.
According to the foundation, several board members who have a passion for video gaming held a video game design competition in 2019. As a result of this competition, some St. Dominic High School students have been “working hard for the past 10 months to design a mobile game, combining storytelling, scriptwriting, visual art, graphic design and programming skills,” said the foundation. The mobile game, which is expected to launch this year, will be available for free download.
A slightly different approach – combining education and building community networks through lifelong learning and connecting people – began under the name of NPOwer in early 2019, said the foundation. Through NPOwer, an online database of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and non-profit organisations (NPOs) was created, where these organisations’ initiatives can be shared through Facebook.
“Since Foresee Foundation’s start in October 2013, donors have shown consistent confidence in Foresee’s volunteer board members, who meet at private and public spaces, avoiding office rent, and use phones and Internet to conduct programmes.
“This has resulted in limiting overhead cost to a maximum of two per cent, ensuring that St. Maarten and other Caribbean educational entities and NPOs fully benefit from grants and donations. It also encouraged many volunteers and businesses to support Foresee in its community endeavours to connect St. Maarten community groups,” said the foundation.
According to the foundation, it will continue to live by its four Cs – Communication, Collaboration, Creative and Critical thinking – in 2020.
“High on the agenda, with the recent appointment of Cassandra Richardson as the new project coordinator, will be the continuation of the NPOwer project by connecting NGOs, promoting and sharing their good work, while also supporting them with capacity-strengthening initiatives.
“Additionally, a new project will start under the name ‘Escape the Classroom.’ [This is] an innovative IT concept promoting practical problem-solving and collaboration in St. Maarten’s classrooms.
“Last, but definitely not least, the ‘For the Win’ (FTW) wing of Foresee will launch the first official For the Win gaming app and plans to further expand gaming initiatives in collaboration with other foundations,” said the foundation.
On behalf of the foundation’s board, Foresee Foundation President Jose Verschueren-Sommers thanked all grant recipients, volunteers, funders, businesses, NPOs and the community for “the huge support received.” She also said she looks forward to “another exciting year further building St. Maarten communities.”
For more information about the foundation, persons are asked to contact any of the foundation’s board members or visit its Facebook page.
