VONNIE MCGOWAN-ARSCOTT: A life of community service

By INGRID BROWN All Woman writer

Monday, April 19, 2010

AT least twice a month Vonnie McGowan-Arscott's kitchen is abuzz with activities. The aroma of tasty dishes often fill the air as friends and family members alike join in to prepare meals to feed the homeless people of South Florida, among them many Jamaicans who have fallen on hard times.

Her granddaughters, 12-year-old Janese and 13-year-old Daenecia, must also help in distributing the meals with one handing out the eating utensils and another the drink.

"In my monthly outreach of feeding the homeless in Miami, I have come across a lot of homeless Jamaicans here," she told All Woman. "You know, when I see them (Jamaicans) I give them a little more food," she joked.

But McGowan-Arscott, no stranger to helping less fortunate Jamaicans both at home and abroad, also finds the time to respond to the desperate plea of an undocumented migrant who cannot afford to bury a relative; or a senior citizen needing help to access health care or pension benefits.

"Since 1992, we used to get people from the Registrar General's Department (RGD) and Jamaican lawyers specialising in wills and probates and we bring these services from Jamaica to South Florida because a lot of these people are elderly and cannot get around to do these things," she said. The Jamaican Consulate's current outreach is said to have lightened this load considerably.

But in between it all, McGowan-Arscott still finds time to host an annual 'Nostalgia in Gold' Mother's Day Excellence Award ceremony, which has for the last 18 years honoured women excelling in various areas.

"Over the years we have been able to honour prime ministers, women involved in children's advocacy, sports, health care, culture, music, members of the judiciary and community advocates, among others," she explained.

A wearer of many hats, McGowan-Arscott, now the president of the charity group Jamaica United Relief Association (JURA), is no newcomer to ensuring Jamaican and Caribbean immigrants do not fall through the cracks in the United States.

It started over 30 years ago through her radio programmes in New York which, among other things, helped to inform new migrants how to traverse the system. Done in conjunction with the Jamaican Consulate in New York, McGowan-Arscott said she would get professionals to address many of the social and immigration concerns Caribbean migrants would have.

With listenership in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and sections of Boston, the programme eventually gave birth to the staging of live musical performances to satisfy the longing of those Jamaicans homesick for a piece of the Jamaican culture.

However, in 1990 when she relocated to Florida, McGowan-Arscott again sought other avenues to continue helping fellow immigrants, eventually becoming a part of JURA.

"There were undocumented people who had real issues to deal, with such as a sick child, a dead person in the family who they could not bury, or someone needed medical attention but because they were under the radar they couldn't access the proper services," she told All Woman.

But the services were not limited to South Florida as the 20-member JURA organisation visits Jamaica for various outreach programmes, and mainly for disaster relief efforts.

Among the notable success stories was the group's ability to raise over US$40,000 of the US$50,000 needed to perform eye surgery on a Jamaican woman at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

That young woman, now fully recovered, is becoming a registered nurse in the US where she now lives with her children.

JURA, founded by Jamaicans and headed by Joan Seaga Gonzales for 22 of its 26 years of its existence, is said to have since donated more than US$15 million in cash and kind to Jamaica.

Through a programme of collecting coins, 'Your small change can make a big change for the youths of Jamaica', JURA has partnered with the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association to help raise US $100,000 for the athletics programme in Jamaica by 2012.

McGowan-Arscott, who has two doctoral degrees in counselling and humanities, and who continues to operate an events planning business, also hosts, along with JURA, the annual Independence Ball showcasing Jamaican culture. She also celebrates Independence with Jamaicans and friends of Jamaica.

And there is no sign that she will be letting up anytime soon as McGowan-Arscott is on a mission to recruit vibrant third and fourth-generation Jamaican immigrants to work along with the current members of retired and semi-retired personnel.

Since 2008, she has also taken on the plight of a number of 'undocumented' Caribbean farm workers of the agricultural belts of Florida, journeying to those remote towns with teams of nurses and other volunteers to provide health-care services, as well as assisting them to assess social services.

At her own expense McGowan-Arscott has also brought RGD personnel to assist many of these persons in acquiring birth certificates.

"If we can make a difference and improve the living conditions for even 10 of them at a time, my mission will not be in vain," she said. "Many have left Jamaica and other countries, some over 40 years ago, with a dream to earn a livelihood for the families left behind. Some made it, but the ones left behind in the US for various reasons still dream of returning home."

As someone who devotes over 60 per cent of her time to community service, McGowan-Arscott is always looking for the next cause to help.

"What drives me is the need to help," she said. "You have to do as much as you can for who you can because you never know what your fate is going to be."

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VONNIE MCGOWAN-ARSCOTT: A life of community service