OCHO RIOS, St Ann – St Ann residents yesterday turned out in large numbers to ‘put work into Labour Day’, with several institutions benefiting from the generosity of groups and organisations in the parish.,/B>

Among the institutions that benefited from the voluntary labour were the Windsor Girls’ Home, the parish’s police headquarters in St Ann’s Bay, the St Christopher’s School for the Deaf in Brown’s Town, the Golden Spring Basic School in Higgin Town, several churches in Ocho Rios and St Ann’s Bay, the Ocho Rios post offices, and Lawrence Park in St Ann’s Bay.

Windsor Girls received assistance from the Optimist Club of St Ann’s Bay and SuperClub’s Hedonism III Resort.

Managers, workers and even guests from the resort turned out to assist the resort’s selected Labour Day project. Most of the work done at the home was painting, but there was also some landscaping and repairs to doors and windows.

Help even came from a tiny tot – two-year-old Tafari Johnson of Windsor Heights, a nephew of a worker at Hedonism II, Avis Galloway. Little Tafari helped to paint a section of a wall, with the assistance of Kevin Dupel, a repeat guest at Hedonism III, who took time out of his vacation to assist the institution.

At Lawrence Park, St Ann’s Labour Day project, Custos R O Walters and several persons turned out to plant trees on the property and the library compound, which is adjacent to the park.

According to Walters, the work on Labour Day was a continuation of work started on Volunteers Day, when several benches were erected on the library grounds.

The custos and his team were also involved in assisting efforts at the Methodist Church in St Ann’s Bay and the Golden Spring Basic School in Higgin Town.

Meanwhile, more than 20 members of the congregation of the Ocho Rios-based Northgate Family Church turned out to do a paint job on the St Ann police headquarters.

According to Claudile Sydial, the spokesperson for the group, yesterday’s effort was the first phase of what is to be a continuing effort to assist the police in the parish. Assistance will also be given in other forms, Sydial said, including counselling and gifts of furniture.

The police themselves assisted the St Christopher’s School for the Deaf in Brown’s Town, while the Ocho Rios Post Office got a paint job.

In the neighbouring parish of St Mary, Beaches Boscobel Resort chose the Oracabessa police station as its project, refurbishing the station and the officers’ quarters. New bathroom facilities, inclusive of toilet, shower and face basin, were installed.

The kitchen received new counter tops and cupboards; repairs were done to the roof and plumbing fixtures. In addition the entire building was repainted.

A team from the resort, headed by general manager Jeff McKitty, assisted by community members and the police themselves got the job done.