A minivan, an industrial dryer, rice, sugar and grits -- these aren’t items you would typically find on a Christmas wish list, but for the Bahamas Children’s Emergency Hostel, these goods are desperately needed for upkeep of the center.
The needs at the hostel are great but the donations are slim. Treasurer and board member of the hostel Philip Stubbs told The Guardian yesterday that donations have drastically declined in the last few years.
An immediate need of the hostel is a mini van or caravan. Other more basic needs on its Christmas wish list include groceries, lunch items, personal items like bath towels, underwears, clothes and shoes, and toiletries for the children. The hostel also needs mattresses, wall shelves, and an industrial dryer.
The hostel, located on Mckinney Drive, off Carmichael Road, is a center where abused children are sent to be cared for. Currently the hostel takes care of the needs of 24 children. Assistant hostel administrator Nakita Smith said many of the children have either been abandoned or neglected.
Stubbs said for the past several years the hostel has suffered because of the slow economy.
Asked what it would need to put the hostel on a good financial footing, Stubbs said, ”it will take whatever we can get.”
“Each year we end up with a deficit. The cost of operations is greater than the revenue. We also have capital needs, like furniture and equipment. In terms of needs we always have them - operational or capital expenditure,” Stubbs said.
He emphasized that over the past two years donations to the hostel have declined by about 30 percent.
“One of the main challenges we face is raising funds to run the hostel. We do get a subsidy from The Bahamas government. Other than that we essentially depend on donations from the public. They provide the funding to buy supplies, groceries, pay the staff, etc.,” he noted.
He said it costs about $300,000 annually to run the hostel.
Stubbs added that the subsidy from the government only covers a
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