It is hard to believe that it has been 35 years since a group of visionary and enterprising Kingston College old boys founded our association here in Toronto. We have been blessed over these many years to have a pool of dedicated volunteers willing to serve the association and by extension Kinston College. We should all take pride in the longevity of our association and our accomplishments over these three and a half decades.
Finances
Fundraising remains our top priority as the need at our beloved alma mater is great. There are major projects in the planning staging or currently underway that requires significant funding to accomplish. These initiatives include the following:
Sinking wells at both North Street and Melbourne.
Addition of a floor to the Douglas Forrest Building.
Upgrade to the science labs and libraries.
Repairs to the chapel.
Completion of the Social Services Building at Melbourne.
I am particularly pleased that we were able to increase our contributions to the school over the past year. Our efforts along with our North American colleagues and KC old boys in Jamaica resulted in significant progress towards the completion of the Social Services Building at Melbourne. This building is now complete and a dedication ceremony is scheduled for later this month at the school. Our 2007 Annual Re-union and Awards Banquet and the Christmas ham and turkey sales were tremendous successes thanks to your support. Spring Dance 2008 was a moderate success as it fell short of our projections. Regardless, these three events along with generous contributions from individual members afforded us the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of deserving young men at our beloved alma mater. Particularly noteworthy, was our sponsorship of KC student Roshanne Graveney and the librarian at North Street, Ms. Cynthia Hewitt, acting as a chaperone, to attend the York University Leadership Program held in May of this year, here in Toronto. This program is aimed at identifying Jamaican and other Caribbean students with leadership potential with a view to assisting them to achieve their potential and become future world leaders. We have already sponsored the participation of another KC student, Devon Duncan to attend the October 2008 version of this conference in Barbados.
There were some disappointments; firstly, the difficulty experienced by Peoples Telecom of Jamaica in maintaining an acceptable level of service for the KCOBA long distance card that was launched as a joint venture with the company. An attempt to find another service provider proved futile and an excellent opportunity for an additional and continuous source of revenue is on hold. Secondly, the major Summer Event featuring top Jamaican reggae band, Fab 5 failed to meet attendance projections. Despite the less than stellar start to this event, it is our objective to explore a partnership with Fab 5 to continue this event as an annual endeavor. The revenue potential is enormous and we will incorporate the lessons learned from this inaugural attempt to guide our decisions and improve our chances of success going forward.
Membership
Of course, any organization is only as good as the membership. The longevity of KCOBA (Toronto) is a testament to the support of many KC old boys over the years. At present, we are in direct contact with over 150 members. Our goal is to harness this base to increase the effectiveness of our organization. There is still a heavy reliance on a core group of members, particularly those who have served on previous boards. Much work is required in this area and it will have to be a priority for the next board of directors.
The wider community
We continue to support the Alliance of Jamaican Alumni Association (AJAA) as this organization affords us the opportunity to contribute to projects with direct benefit to our community. The Graduates Program that awards bursaries and scholarships to needy and deserving young people of Jamaican heritage to further their education at post secondary institutions is the flagship project.
Our plan to establish a similar program for young people associated with members of KCOBA (Toronto) is not yet a reality. I am hopeful that we will have a positive announcement concerning this initiative later this year.
We also continue our annual contribution to St. David’s Anglican Church, the venue for our annual service. This relationship continues to grow each year despite the high turn over of the leadership of the church.
Summit of KCOBA Chapters
I was able to attend the 6th Summit of KCOBA chapters, which was held in August of last year at the North Street Campus of Kingston College. All stakeholders were in attendance with the exception of the Church.
Being on location, proved an “eye opener” for us non-locals, as we were able to witness first hand the less than desirable state of the physical plant. The science labs stood out as a major area needing urgent attention. The chapel and a significant number of class rooms are in need of repairs, in some cases extensive work is required. Thanks to the effort of KC old boys, Trevor Hall, Neville Gray, Everad Wiggan, Alex Francis and support of our brothers in Atlanta and our own Gary Thompson (Gary’s Freight), a shipment of lab equipment was sent to the school in August.
Unfortunately, for reasons unknown to the attendees, a formal report of the summit has not been produced. Robert Kelly (New York) produced his own report which was published in one of the issues of the eNewsletter.
Conclusion
We had a good year and were able to continue meaningful contributions to the school. Another encouraging development is the increased communication within the fraternity, which is helpful in keeping all concerned informed and more importantly reduce instances of duplication of effort.
Tonight is the celebration of our efforts and affords us an opportunity to publicly acknowledge some of our own for their dedication to the cause. Maurice MacDonald, a former vice president is a most deserving recipient of the President’s award for this year. Despite his health challenges in recent times, Maurice continues to make an effort to support the association and is a fixture at a number of our events during the year. Jamaica National and Jamaica National Money Transfer are being jointly honoured for their corporate citizenship and tremendous support to our community. Congratulations to all award recipients.
I have no doubt that the entertainment will be of the highest caliber featuring the encore performance of Ossie D and Stevie G. Have an enjoyable night.
Of course, your suggestions and comments are welcome and I encourage you to contact us by e-mail at kcobatoronto@yahoo.com, visiting our website http://www.geocities.com/kcobatoronto/index.htm and post a message and of course in person at our quarterly Fortis Friday networking gatherings.
