December 3, 2021 | St. John’s, Antigua |Kay White
The Adventist Development and Relief Agency is a humanitarian agency operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and exists to provide individual and community development and disaster relief. At the start of the pandemic, ADRA International established a global COVID-19 taskforce in response to the crisis.
ADRA’s COVID-19 strategy is founded on the principle that we are “stronger together”. The South Leeward Conference, ADRA chapter, led by Pastor Kay White, embraced this initiative and in collaboration with Dr. Eulalie Semper, Health and Children’s Ministries director, launched ‘Stronger Together’ to address the needs of 54 families through awareness, health promotion and psychosocial support. To accomplish this, the departments formed partnership with medical doctors, counsellors, dieticians and other professionals.
As such, congregations, in the South Leeward Conference, selected one vulnerable family from the church and one family from the community with a school-aged child to benefit from this program. The opening ceremony was held Thursday November 4, 2021. In attendance was the ADRA director of the Caribbean Union who presented remarks and endorsed this significant initiative. The activities for the “Stronger Together” initiative for the month of November, included health checks, cooking class demonstrations and empowerment sessions.
Additionally, each family will receive COVID-19 response packages and devices upon completion of the first phase of the program which ends on Monday, December 6, 2021. ADRA - South Leeward Conference intends to continue this initiative indefinitely as families continue to receive needed support during these difficult times.