ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA – The United States Embassy in Grenada donated 20 sets of desks and chairs to the Happy Hill Secondary School on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024.

Principal Officer at the U.S. Embassy Frances Herrera noted that the furniture is a continuation of the promise made in September 2023.

Herrera said, “The U.S. Embassy is delighted to see the realization of this furniture handover today. This is an extension of the Continuing Promise ship visit to Grenada, from Sept. 12 to 22, 2023. During that visit, many of the schools received donations, bookshelves, books from local authors, refurbishment of classrooms and sports equipment of which the schools also benefitted, valued at around US$40,000. Today, we especially thank the staff and the inmates at [His] Majesty’s Prison for their beautiful craftmanship of the desks and chairs that will assist the students at the Happy Hill Secondary School in their educational journey.”

Officer Jovas Mann, who was representing the prison, said, “Education is important to our nation’s youth, and I can’t put into words how happy I am to be here this morning knowing that the prison made such a wonderful, such a positive impact on the education sector of the nation. I know that the students here [would] take good care of the chairs and the desks.”

Principal of the school, Nerrisa Celestine-James, thanked the embassy for its partnership and continued support. She also congratulated His Majesty’s Prison for work well done on the furniture.

She said, “I just want to thank Principal Officer, Herrera, because she has been instrumental, in terms of coming to the school and assessing our needs and being willing to help and this means a lot to us, because sometimes you rarely see people coming in and asking, ‘How can I help?’. In a school where we cater to just under 500 students, the little help that we get is deeply appreciated and we want to ensure our students are seated right here today. We want to ensure the US Embassy that whatever furniture that is being given to us, we will indeed take good care of it.”