Lonza, Dealers Lend a Hand in Costa Rica

Lonza Dealer And Employee Volunteers Pose With Some Of The Children From The Escuela – Gil Tablada Corea Elementary School In El Jobo, Costa Rica After A Job Well Done
Lonza Dealer and employee volunteers pose with some of the children from the ESCUELA – Gil Tablada Corea elementary school in El Jobo, Costa Rica after a job well done.

Lonza Water Treatment personnel recently teamed up with professional pool dealers from North America on a PEACH (People Extending A Caring Hand) project that involved repairing and refurbishing an elementary school in a rural area in the state of Guanacaste outside of La Cruz, Costa Rica, equipping it with five new computers and other needed supplies, and constructing a new playground. 

This is the fourth PEACH project completed since 2012; the prior projects involved refurbishing schools in Mexico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. 

The PEACH project at the ESCUELA – Gil Tablada Corea elementary school involved 400 hours of “sweat equity” and $25,000 for new computers and other equipment. In addition, Lonza employees and dealers were asked to bring school supplies such as notebooks, pens, backpacks and drawing materials for donation to the school. With input from Lonza, Direct Travel and the Costa Rica Dream Travel destination management company, the school in El Jobo was selected based on the needs of the school, its children and the surrounding community.

The work involved painting three classrooms and the exterior of six buildings, improving the landscaping in front of the school, remodeling one building that will serve as a library/computer center, remodeling the old cafeteria for use with special needs students, providing book shelving for the library as well as school desks and computers and installing a new playground.

“The goal of our PEACH projects is to give Lonza customers and employees the opportunity to improve the lives of others and in doing so to strengthen the ties between us,” explained project manager Jerry Pierrottie, manager of environment, health and safety for Lonza Water Treatment.

The work by these volunteers occurred during the annual winter gathering of professional pool dealers who sell Lonza swimming pool and spa treatment products. The meeting in Costa Rica included 288 U.S. pool dealer representatives and 92 from Canada. 

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