The Tribune

ROMALIA’S Townhouse donated 65 backpack school bags and 36 drawstring bags with assorted school supplies, nutritional snacks and toiletries to the Harbour Island All Age School last month.

The schoolbags were presented to grades ten and 11 at Romalia’s Townhouse and the drawstring bags as well as crayons, binders, presentation slides and more were given to vice principal Lucy Longley for distribution and use by the school.

Also benefiting from the remaining surplus of school supplies and toiletries was the North Eleuthera High School and several younger children within the neighborhood near Romalia’s Townhouse.

Representatives of Romalia’s Townhouse also presented Aloa Higgs with the 2021 Legacy Scholarship Award and laptop. Ms Higgs was gracious to share her moment with her schoolmate Amelia Grant, the 2020 Legacy Scholarship Award Recipient who received her award last year without an event due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aloa served as prefect for grade 11 and was recently elected as head girl. She has already distinguished herself as a budding entrepreneur and owns a handmade crocheting business named “Yarn It Up”. She offers crocheted ideas such as bathing suits, clothes, hats, masks and other creative items. She dreams of becoming a fashion designer and looks forward to studying fashion design and presenting her creative products to the world. Meanwhile, she is committed to maintaining a high, grade point average, remaining on the principal’s list and obtaining her National High School Diploma.

Amelia is in grade 12 and is looking forward to graduating, pursuing a higher education and making her mark within the Harbour Island community. She has a strong love and interest in photographing nature, beaches, animals, foods and other intriguing things. She is hoping to attend an Arts and Design College focusing her studies on interior design, photography and videography. She has a dual interest in becoming an artist and/ or a pharmacist.

The Romalia’s Townhouse Legacy Scholarship is given in memory of Romalia Bethel Albury, whom the townhouse vacation rental is named after. She was an educator from the age of 14 and taught in both the public and Catholic schools in Harbour Island. In her late 80s she retired from teaching at St Thomas More Primary Catholic school in Nassau. Her love for family and our country’s youth extended beyond academics in the classroom as she taught piano lessons at her home. Her strong commitment of faith kept her family together.

The schoolbag program,e is dedicated to the memories of Romalia Bethel Albury, Regina Albury Nixon-Johnson and Sr Cecilia Albury, OSB. Romalia is the grandmother of the owner of Romalia’s Townhouse, Regina is her mother and Sr Cecilia is her aunt. Both Regina and Cecilia, daughters of Romalia, supported and participated in the scholarship, laptop and schoolbag programmes from the onset in 2017 until their demise in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Lorette and her husband Marlon Soudatt are committed to keeping the legacy of these three phenomenal women alive and to giving back to the island in which they were born and served.

Special thanks are extended to Delta Airlines and Seacor Island Lines for donating the cost of freight. Delta Air Lines shipped the schoolbags and supplies from New York to Fort Lauderdale and Seacor Island Lines shipped the items from Fort Lauderdale to Harbour Island, Bahamas. Both companies continue to give back worldwide to many annually.