Fort Lauderdale, Florida – Calabar High School Alumni Association Florida Chapter Inc. will donate to Calabar five million two hundred fifty thousand dollars through an initiative known as the Calabar Alumni Florida Health and Wellness Program.
The funds from the newly minted Calabar Alumni Florida's Health and Wellness Program will support the school's measures to improve students' general welfare regarding nutrition, physical health and mental wellbeing. "While the demand for nutrition assistance remains high, our youth's emotional and behavioral health is just as important as physical health," pronounced Karl Thompson, the departing president of the Florida chapter. He has held the two-year post since November 2020. Against this background, in addition to bolstering nutrition assistance, qualified planned activities that expand the student's capacity to engage in positive behaviors to nurture their wellbeing, build psychological resiliency and personal goal setting are all eligible to be funded by the program.
Calabar Alumni Florida, the old boys' chapter in the State of Florida, is a Florida not-for profit corporation and a US-registered charitable organization. The Health and Wellness program was tapped as this board's major project following its Strategic Giving Plan, which provides the guidelines for supporting Calabar in various areas. During each board's term, a key initiative is voted on and designated as the primary project to which up to seventy percent of funds are channeled.
Titled initially Success Makers, the concept advocated by Dr. Winston Whyte, a current board director, former State of Florida Teacher-of-the-year and retired Miami-Dade County school principal, was transformed into the Calabar Alumni Florida Health and Wellness Program, which more fittingly describes the goals beyond just aiding nutritional needs. "We are glad to be a part of a new urgency for creating wellness programs geared towards high school students, as it is often overlooked or overshadowed. Initiatives, especially those aimed at families that can least afford it, resonate deeply with me," commented Dr. Whyte, who will make a formal presentation to the school's leadership at the school's Founders' Day Lecture on its 110th anniversary on Monday, September 12, 2022, 7 pm at the Boulevard Baptist Church.
At a recently held annual general membership meeting of the Calabar Alumni Florida, the keynote speaker, former prime minister and distinguished Calabar Old Boy, the Most Honourable P.J. Patterson, remarked, "I believe Old Boys Chapters should concentrate on specific areas of their choice. You have already made yours. Let me commend your Executive Board for the designation of The Calabar Alumni Florida Health and Wellness Program, which gives you a wide-open space for your help."
"We are extremely grateful to our members and other well-wishers scattered throughout Florida and beyond, including Texas, California and even Calgary, Canada, for their direct contributions and patronage, especially during these COVID years," added Karl Thompson. "Let us do good together is our mantra, and with this initiative, we certainly hope to do so. Hopefully, with this financial commitment, we can get other groups, professionals or companies locally to partner with us on this journey."
