BARP outgrowing its home base, says president

The Barbados Association of Retired Persons (BARP) will have to expand its current location or move to a new one because of the growth in membership, said president of the association, Ernest Batson.He told the Daily Nation that the membership of the 15-year-old association has been growing over the years, was now forcing the organisation to look at expanding its Collymore Rock location. This, he said, was one of the “big ticket items”.“Growth is positive, but it brings its challenges. We are looking at some capital projects. We have outgrown the facility down there in Collymore Rock. So we might begin to extend the building that we are in. We started talking about it and we have architectural plans. So maybe by the end of the year we will have a sense of where we are and how soon we could get started,” disclosed Batson.He added that another plan was to educate the over 24 000 members about reverse mortgages.“A lot of our members are cash poor, but asset rich. They may have a home and its paid off, but they are getting a small pension and that makes it difficult for them to meet the rising cost of entertainment, travel and living in general. So if a reverse mortgage is in place they can use the value of the house to offset certain costs,” said the president.BARP currently has a ratio of 60:40, females to males, with its oldest member being a male, age 110 years old.