SANDALS Montego Bay’s trainee manager, Michal ‘Donna’ Yitshak, is this year’s JHTA environmental champion. And two of her colleagues, 30-year-old bar porter, Shinton Dixon, and 29-year-old diving instructor, Anthony Morris, were chosen as environmental ambassadors.

The awards were a significant boost for the Sandals Resort Chain, which is moving towards having all its properties Green Globe Certified by yearend.

Yitshak, an Israeli student, received the award for exceptional performance in environmental stewardship at the Montego Bay resort.

When she arrived at Sandals Montego Bay in December 2000, she was handed a slim portfolio that she shaped and fashioned into a comprehensive all-inclusive programme. As a result, she now spearheads the resort’s environmental programme, which has put the hotel on track for Green Globe certification. Yitshak conducts a sustained environmental awareness programme for the resort’s 370 employees, focusing on global environmental statistics, water and electricity conservation and marine life protection. She has become a sought- after speaker at community functions, in and around Montego Bay, speaking at seminars in depressed communities such as Rose Heights, Lilliput and Flankers. She also makes appearances at area high schools.

Among the long list of programmes she has introduced at Sandals Montego Bay are: plastic bottle recycling, fruit and vegetable composting, the grounds department’s cloth bag project, a shredded paper project, the pig farmers project, the dining room water conservation and recycling and a towel reuse programme.

Meanwhile, environmental ambassador, Shinton Dixon, was recognised for being not only an on-property environmental ambassador, but also an environmental leader in his community.

A winner of the resort’s monthly environmental award, he spearheads environmental awareness programmes in his Rose Heights community. He was instrumental in putting pressure on Western Parks and Markets to address the lack of garbage collection in his community. As a result of these efforts, the garbage collection agency was forced to build large receptacles for garbage collection in the area.

Meanwhile, environmental ambassador, Anthony Morris, is the first winner of the resort’s monthly environmental award programme. He was recognised for starting a fish-feeding programme in Montego Bay, geared at replenishing the fish life, and ultimately the reef. Morris is a member of the Montego Bay Marine Park and an active member of the resort’s environmental committee.