THE Jamaica Netball Association (JNA) has launched a $9-million campaign to send the senior Sunshine Girls to the 2011 World Netball Championships (WNC) in Singapore.

‘The Road to Singapore’ begins with a ‘Sunshine Evening’ gala event at the Assembly Hall of the University of the West Indies (UWI) on Friday, May 28, starting at 6:00 pm.

JNA head Marva Bernard, JNA public relations consultant and project leader Nola Philpotts-Brown, other JNA executive members and several players were at Megamart in Kingston yesterday promoting the event.

Several other promotions are to be held at Sovereign Centre and Tropical Plaza before the event.

Philpotts-Brown told the Sunday Observer the JNA is hoping to raise $3 million from this event alone.

“We really want to bring people’s awareness to the project,” she said. “It’s going to be a really entertaining, fun-filled packed evening.”

The programme includes a musical show featuring several of the island’s best known artistes as well as a fashion show involving the Sunshine Girls.

‘A Sunshine Evening’ is now three years old. It was first held in 2008 to help buy video equipment for the national netball programmes, while last year’s event helped send the Under-21 team to the World Youth Championships in the Cook Islands.

“It’s a fun thing for us; it’s something that we have to do, and every year we get bigger and better,” Bernard said.

She said a souvenir programme with a pictorial depicting the team’s journey over the last 50 years of the JNA would also be on sale at the gala.