For peo­ple of the Chris­t­ian faith, Em­maus is a town men­tioned in the Gospel of Luke in the New Tes­ta­ment.

The Apos­tle re­lates the in­ci­dent in which Je­sus Christ ap­peared to two of his dis­ci­ples as they were walk­ing on the road to Em­maus, af­ter his death and res­ur­rec­tion.

Any mod­ern-day in­sti­tu­tion named af­ter Em­maus car­ries great sig­nif­i­cance. For ex­am­ple, the Em­maus Re­treat Cen­tre which is lo­cat­ed in Tor­recil­la Gar­dens, Ari­ma. It is a place which of­fers hope and strength to those in need.

Op­er­at­ed by the In­cor­po­rat­ed Trustees of St Joseph of Cluny, the cen­tre was pre­vi­ous­ly known as St Joseph’s Con­vent Pri­vate Sec­ondary School. The school was dis­con­tin­ued and then used as the Catholic Teach­ers Train­ing Col­lege.

When the train­ing col­lege was closed, it was then con­vert­ed to a Re­treat Cen­tre, as­sist­ing many schools along the East cor­ri­dor, pro­vid­ing a safe place for those who need it, and of­fer­ing pro­fes­sion­al coun­selling.

But in or­der to keep on of­fer­ing its ser­vices to the wider com­mu­ni­ty, the 65-year-old fa­cil­i­ty is in dire need of an up­grade.

The re­pairs in­clude en­hanc­ing the se­cu­ri­ty with the con­struc­tion of a strong new fence to keep ‘noc­tur­nal vis­i­tors’ out.

CIBC First­Caribbean has been able to as­sist in the cen­tre’s dri­ve by mak­ing a do­na­tion to­wards the Cen­tre’s ef­forts.

“Em­maus Cen­tre of­fers so­lace to those in need. Peo­ple who vis­it, should not have to wor­ry about their safe­ty if they are look­ing for peace of mind.

“We are hap­py to sup­port the team at Em­maus Cen­tre, to en­sure that they con­tin­ue to con­tribute to the well-be­ing of cit­i­zens of T&T,” said An­tho­ny Seer­aj, Man­ag­ing Di­rec­tor CIBC First­Caribbean Trinidad Op­er­at­ing Com­pa­ny.

The re­fur­bish­ment of the Cen­tre is es­ti­mat­ed to cost about $300,000.

The se­cu­ri­ty fence, to be con­struct­ed on the south­ern part of the prop­er­ty, is a sep­a­rate cost and is es­ti­mat­ed at $200,000.