WESTERN BUREAU – The Kiwanis Club of Montego Bay Freeport has managed to raise $230,000 in cash and kind to help those in St James who were affected by Hurricane Ivan in September.

In the wake of the hurricane that left many people displaced and millions of dollars in property damage, the club began their fundraising drive.

It was an effort led by Marlene Evans, an employee of Quest Diagnostics – a New Jersey-based medical distribution company with a subsidiary in Jamaica. Their efforts yielded $120,000 in clothing, food and educational items, and $110,000 in cash donated to the club late last month. The food and other items arrived in the island only recently and are expected to be distributed next week.

Executive club member Edgerton Forrester said that following the devastation caused by the hurricane in the parish, the club had devised ways in which it could raise money to help those affected.

It is against that background, he said, that Evans was contacted, who, along with her staff at the New Jersey office, later went on a drive to raise the needed funds.

“We contacted her on the matter and she spoke with some of her friends who decided to make contributions,” he noted.

Meanwhile, Forrester said the items would be distributed among hurricane-affected persons across the parish.

However, exactly where the distribution would take place and how many people would benefit was not immediately clear.

What is known is that the Howard Cooke Primary School, which sustained damage from the hurricane, will be among the beneficiaries.

A portion of the $110,000, Forrester explained, will go towards repairing the guidance counsellor’s quarters at the institution where a section of the roof was blown off during the passage of the hurricane.

Since then it has become very uncomfortable for the school’s counselling department to effectively carry out its functions.

“Some of the clothes that we will be getting will also be distributed to students and their families that were affected by the hurricane,” Forrester added.