The students of the Sea View Farm Primary School are the beneficiaries of over 500 books donated by Anthony Smith JR., the UPP candidate for the All Saints West Constituency.
The donation represents Mr. Smith’s commitment to the development of the youth, and the overall All Saints West Constituency. The program Mr. Smith now coins the “Need to Read Program”, has the motto: Empowering young minds one book at a time.
According to the representative, the children got the gift of empowerment this Christmas; tools they need to navigate life in the future. Smith has further given his commitment to refurbish of the libraries of all the primary schools in his constituency to include Buckley Primary School, Freemans Village Primary School and the J T Ambrose Primary in All Saints Village.
The United Progressive Party Representative says that this is just one phase of his commitment to the improvement of the people in All Saints West through education, entrepreneurship, sports and community development. In his remarks, Smith says “our people are very talented, however they need a helping hand from their government to assist them up the social economic ladder. As a government we should provide opportunities and not hand-outs. If we provide opportunities, our hard working people will do the rest and elevate themselves out of poverty.”
The young businessman further states that if the government focused on human capital, through education, entrepreneurship, sports and culture, with strong family values; Antigua could be a lucrative paradise for everyone who calls it home. Also a strong focus on youth development would solve many of the country’s economic woes and the lingering Social Security problem.
The Principal of the school received the books, expressing gratitude for the timely donation. She says that the refurbishing of the school library was key for her educational program at the school, and was happy that Anthony Smith shared a similar scholastic vision.
Anthony Smith Jr. reemphasizes his reason for entering elective politics as a passion to help people. “To reiterate, my main desire is to provide opportunities for the people of my community. I believe through community and national initiatives, we can improve the lives of individuals and families and reduce poverty.
This starts with education and reading. Making our children passionate about books and motivating them to read; hence my “Need to Read Program”. Our libraries must be more expensive than our wardrobes and books must be duty free in this country.”
Anthony Smith continues to positively impact the lives of the people of All Saints West since his emergence on the political sphere as the Candidate for the United Progressive Party UPP he epitomizes the party mantra of ‘People First’ and expresses his personal passion to help people.
