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Warwick Camp is expected to be an excellent venue for Mirrors

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Retired Belco boss Garry Madeiros is a Mirrors Trustee ( Photo by Glenn Tucker )

Change is afoot for the Mirrors programme, with its next residential gathering of participants set for Warwick Camp.“I served as chairman of the Defence Board for seven years, so I know that it’s an excellent facility for the job,” noted former Belco head Garry Madeiros.He was speaking after the launch of the New Beginnings $1 Million Campaign aimed at raising $500,000 to bring back Mirrors’ programme for 19- to 24-year-old men, and a further $500,000 to fund education grants for at-risk young people.“We’re all fond of saying that the youth today are our leaders of tomorrow,” said Mr Madeiros, a New Beginnings trustee. “But there are so many challenges with our youth today that we cannot afford anybody being disenfranchised. You can see what’s happening right now because of it.”In his role with the New Beginnings Education Trust, Mr Madeiros provides oversight for fundraising.As a close associate of New Beginnings founding trustee Kerry Judd, he recalled: “I have seen her commitment to causes first-hand, and so I listened when she first got involved with Mirrors. She was passionate about what she saw at the in-house sessions at Willowbank, and those life changes for young people. She just radiated when she talked about what the programme could do for the young people of this Island.”However, Mr Madeiros added: “Kerry realised that in fact there was a gap in between, when young people had finished Mirrors and when or if they got an opportunity to go further in their education or advance themselves. A lot of this had to do with funding, and she decided that money should never be the reason a young Bermudian was unable to attain their educational goals, regardless of past performance. That’s how she came up with the idea of the New Beginnings Education Trust and asked me if I’d like to be involved as a trustee.“As a trustee, effectively what you do is ensure that the charter of the trust is upheld. It’s guidance and due diligence, with regards to the efforts of the trust. It’s set up for the benefit of those coming out of Mirrors, and it has a wide scope. Most important is to ensure that funds coming in, whether for scholarships or other programmes, are handled in the way designated.”The campaign continues over the next 12 months.