MONTEGO BAY, St James – Two more families have been lifted out of the squalor that is rampant in this resort, courtesy of a group of teenagers from five Kingston-based schools.

The teenagers- present and past students of the Hillel Academy, American International School of Kingston (AISK), Campion College, Immaculate Conception and St. Andrews High- bonded under the Homes of Hope project led by Jacqueline Stewart Lechler and the Montego Bay-based Youth With a Mission (YWAM) organisation to build homes for both families.

“I can’t tell you how much this means to me,” said 51-year-old grandmother of seven, Audrey Reid.

Reid, who along with 11 members of her family, have been living in a leaking 2-room plyboard house in Whitehouse, St James, told the Observer West that the new plyboard home that the teenagers built for her will create much needed space for the family.

We’ll fix up the old one. Together with this we will live,” she said.

In addition to the new home, Reid’s family received several housewarming items including toiletries, bed linen

and mattresses which were procured through several initiatives including bakesales.

Forty-year-old Irene Smith, the other beneficiary of the project was equally thankful.

Between smiles and tears of joy, she told the Observer West that the teenagers’ effort would ensure a happy Christmas for herself, husband and four children in Moy Hall, St James

In the meantime the students – whose effort will receive community service acknowledgement from their schools – are celebrating the completion of both jobs which took a considerable amount of labour, especially in relation to the location of Smith’s house on top of a hill up which they had to lug several heavy materials back and forth.

“They all worked very hard on this project and it means as much to them as it does to the new homeowners,” said Lechler.

As much was evident from the excitement that the teens exhibited as they threw themselves into the task of putting up the walls, painting and putting shingles on the roofs.

At the end, tired, but happy, they posed with the excited recipients for a photo to commemorate the occasion which was brought to a fitting end with the invocation of a blessing by YWAM’s director, Marion Jacobs.