Exercise Tradewinds 2018 to engage local community in St. Kitts
(SKNIS): On Wednesday’s April 11th edition of “Working for You”, Captain Kayode Sutton of the St. Kitts and Nevis Defence Force (SKNDF) said that participants in Exercise Tradewinds 2018, which takes place in St. Kitts from June 4 – 12, will engage the local community.
Captain Sutton said that he reached out to the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) and the Department of People’s Empowerment for possible charitable events that the officers can get involved in during their time on island.
“This year, what we are proposing to them is that we look at the different communities; at least one community in every constituency, so that it will have a far-reaching effect,” said Captain Sutton.
He noted that one of the possible activities will be getting a group of soldiers to visit selected primary schools throughout the federation to share their experiences with students.
“If there are any small projects within the schools or communities that can be taken up by this group, noting that we only have a limited time then they would do it. We want it to be far reaching. The plan is to have everything happening simultaneously in St. Kitts and Nevis,” he said, while adding that these activities can include painting, cleaning or building.
Claricia Langley-Stevens, Deputy Chair of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) with responsibility for Human Disaster Response Management (HDRM)), said that this initiative to get the LOC involved in reaching out to the communities to find out their needs will prove to be more beneficial in placing the soldiers appropriately.
“There is a holistic approach to Exercise Tradewinds and what it brings to the region and the island. I am making that appeal that once there is an organization that feels like this appeal can work for them on that particular project it would have identified, it can reach out to us and we can start partnering,” said Ms. Langley Weaver.
Members of the public are invited to contact Captain Sutton at 465 – 9279, Corporal Davis at 466-7312 or NEMA at 466-5100 to gather more information.