The Tribune

ON NOVEMBER 25, 2012, St David’s Methodist Church in Grand Bahama honoured the longest serving local preacher within the Methodist Church in the Bahamas and in the Caribbean, Evangelist Lloyd Fuller Quant. Evangelist Quant has been serving the church for more than 80 years as a local preacher, ever since 1934.

The church family made the decision to rename the church’s manse as The Evangelist Lloyd Quant Community Outreach Centre.

According to St David’s, the centre is a non-profit organisation that serves as a beacon of hope in the community and caters to many needs.

The mission project committee of the centre – headed by vice-president of the BTCI Conference Michelle Lynn Forbes-Dames, HIV/AIDS advocate Kevin Thompson-Delancy and Rev Kenneth Lewis, pastor of St David’s Methodist Church – is seeking to upgrade the facility and incorporate new activities.

The centre, although it requires much work, is already very active in the community of Sea Grape in Eight Mile Rock.

Currently, the centre houses a food facility called the ‘Breakfast Kitchen’ that feeds over 100 children on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

To maximise the benefit to the community of Sea Grape, the committee hopes to expand the outreach mission to incorporate a Wellness Centre (bringing awareness and education of HIV/AIDS, diabetes, hypotension with monthly screening and counselling sessions); adult literacy classes (assisting adults with reading and math); an after-school programme (assisting students with homework, reading, math, computer classes and behavioural skills), and hosting karate, dart, and sewing classes.

The 19th Company of Boys’ Brigade and the 5th Company of Girls’ Brigade are also attached to the centre. The Boys’ Brigade will be celebrating 50 years of impacting lives of young boys and men in the community.

“This outreach mission is a great undertaking and is in need of assistance from the community at large,” St David’s said.

“The committee is making repairs to the building and seeking much needed building and other supplies and assistance with labour from corporate Bahamas, government, civic and volunteer groups, religious bodies, and people from everywhere.”

700 Partners, a non-profit organisation dedicated to reaching those that are in need and restoring the infrastructure that creates the environment for better communities, has partnered with the committee to make the community outreach centre a reality.

700 Partners manages a database of community projects, assists organisations in developing their very own charitable programmes, and simultaneously works in collaboration with others to meet the current needs of the community.

For more information, contact Immerse Bahamas at 602-5555 or info@immersebahamas.com.