Team Jamaica Bickle commits to athletes
CHIEF executive officer and founder of the Team Jamaica Bickle (TJB), Irwine Clare, has declared the organisation’s commitment to continue helping local athletes at the 2011 Penn Relays in Pennsylvania, United States.
Clare was speaking last Monday at the launch of TJB’s fund-raising campaign at the Alhambra Inn Hotel, where he identified the Relays as being important to Jamaicans living at home, and in the United States.
“We appreciate it (Penn Relays) a lot because when you live in America you don’t have the privilege to watch our athletes at Champs and the other athletic meets. For us the Penn Relays is the ultimate experience and we see them as Team Jamaica because when one school wins, Jamaica win.
“Team Jamaica Bickle helps to make rooming arrangements for our athletes and to provide them with food, but as we grow, it is important to provide platform for things and services for Jamaica,” he said.
The Penn Relay Carinival attracts thousands of competitors each year and Jamaican athletes have contributed to the success of the event for over 60 years. Hundreds of Jamaicans — most of them high school athletes — are set to take part this year from April 28-30.
For over a decade, TJB programmes have helped to provide meals, physical and medical services, subsidised hotel and air fare and other transportation arrangements for persons participating at the annual event. They also facilitate the disbursement of stipends for athletes studying abroad.
The GraceKennedy Group, through its Money Services operations, has maintained a 12-year partnership with TBJ, while a new sponsor in telecommunications company LIME has signed on this year.
Despite that, Clare is calling on more assistance from corporate entities to bolster the support for local athletes at the meet.
“It is imperative that those involved in the decision-making know that investing in our youth cannot be something we take lightly because they are representing us,” he said, adding that his organisation will be hosting other fund-raising events in the US before the meet begins.
