Team CIBC went to work on March 2 without computers, vaults, and money counters in sight.

Their tools were replaced with paint, paintbrushes, roller brushes and garden shovels, as they arrived for work at the site of a new skills training centre being established by the Bethel Baptist Church in Half-Way Tree, St Andrew.

On their first “Adopt a Cause” mission for 2024, the bank employees set about painting walls and furniture, trimming trees, planting flowers and beautifying the space surrounding the centre, which is situated in close proximity of Bethel’ Hope Centre (Helping Ordinary People Everyday), which caters to hundreds of homeless persons from the community daily.

Reverend Glenroy Lalor, pastor of the Bethel Baptist Church, welcomed the “large contingent of joyful and happy workers from CIBC” and thanked them on behalf of the community for their work to establish the skills training centre.

He explained that the Hope Centre, with the help of the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation, already feeds two meals per day to approximately 100 homeless persons, provides an opportunity for them to wash their clothes and to receive new clothing if required.

The new skills training centre at which the CIBC team volunteered represents phase two of the development that will also offer skills training, including “a programme for household workers and hotel workers to be trained and certified, after which they would be assisted in getting employment”.

Lalor said: “We plan to add landscaping and carpentry and plumbing to ensure people who need an opportunity, get an opportunity for their own development.”

A third phase will see the rebuilding of a transition house, which was destroyed by fire last year “to help persons needing transition facilities, to get back on their feet”.

CIBC managing director Nigel Holness said that the bank was “inspired by the work being done at the HOPE Centre and the vision for the skills training centre and we are grateful for the opportunity to contribute”.

“Through our Adopt a Cause Programme, CIBC’s employees support over 100 causes throughout the Caribbean every year where critical needs are identified within communities. We help to boost education programmes, providing equipment and teaching aids, refurbishing schools, children’s homes, and other community spaces. It is good work, and we enjoy giving back,” Holness expanded.