The National Baking Company has donated 50 Bresheh Backpacks to the Office of the Children’s Advocate (OCA) for students in their OCA Summer Program to return to school. At the handover were: (L-R) Craig Hendrickson, Director of Marketing & Sales at National, Kellesa Wilson, OCA Secretary, Chris-Anthony Salter and Crystal Blackwood, National Brand Managers, Omega Harris, National Key Accounts Manager, and Suzanne Fearon-Williams, OCA Executive Secretary.
Participants in the annual OCA Summer Camp Program, hosted by the Office of the Children’s Advocate (OCA) are headed back to school in style this year courtesy of National Baking Company. National donated Bresheh backpacks to fifty students enrolled in the programme for the start of this school year following a call for support from the OCA which is the Commission of Parliament that protects the rights of children and safeguards their best interests.
Speaking at the recent handover of the backpacks, National Brand Manager, Crystal Blackwood shared, “It has been a delight to support the OCA once more on this program to ensure that students are adequately prepared to tackle the school year. And with so many children still in need of even the simplest school supplies, it was a no-brainer for National to make this donation.”
The OCA Summer Camp Program, which was established in 2013 to create opportunities for children from lower income households across the island, has been offering support to students ages 5 - 17 in and around the OCA’s Harbour Street location.
National Baking Company donated school-appropriate versions of the very fashionable Bresheh bags in various colours to the students in the Office of the Children’s Advocate (OCA) Summer Program. The company explained that it was important to answer the call from the OCA to help students in need but they chose Bresheh bags in keeping with the company’s principle of supporting local manufacturers.
Executive Secretary of the OCA, Suzanne Fearon-Williams expressed, “On behalf of Mrs. Diahann Gordon Harrison, the Children’s Advocate and the entire team, I want to express our gratitude to Mr. Hendrickson, [National Baking Company Chairman] for his continued support of the programme. It means the world to us to be able to assist our nation’s children.”
Meanwhile, National explained that the brand-name backpacks donated to the agency in a variety of colours were chosen because of the company's goal to support and promote local manufacturers.
The National Baking Company joined the OCA Summer Camp Program as a sponsor in 2016. The camp which typically situates children in need of psychosocial intervention in a different environment to their homes for a week has had to pivot since the pandemic to only provide the students with supplies.
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