BY RENAE DIXON

Observer staff reporter

dixonr@jamaicaobserver.com

IT was all about showing love in Nine Miles, St Ann recently when a group of young people from the 1Jam 1Love Foundation feted more than 200 residents at a day of fun to mark the start of a relationship between the community and the Florida-based charity

The day which started with devotions with the residents was chock-full of fun activities as the 10 volunteers worked to ensure that those in attendance had some of their needs met.

Rushell Wright, one of the directors of the foundation, said the group decided to help the Nine Miles community because of the needs in the area.

“We chose Nine Miles as our community for our March trip because two of our directors are from there, and they understand the needs of the families and saw that our organisation could be a huge help to families in the area,” she told the Jamaica Observer North East.

In addition to the groceries and care packages given to the residents, the foundation, also took the time to better understand the needs of the community so the assistance can be an ongoing one.

According to Wright, the directors of the foundation which includes Mark Bartley, David Fitz-Gordon, Claudine Brown Bartley and Demoy Thomas, identified resources to provide struggling families with food, clothes, educational and medical supplies among other necessities.

“We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to better themselves, so we created agricultural programmes like our ‘Each one Give One’ programme which assists farmers with an animal. Once the animal reproduces, the farmer must then give one of the offspring to another farmer in need,” Wright explained.

The programme, she explained, seeks to provide a source of long-term income to the farmers and also helps with building better relationships.

At the recent event, residents were presented with phone cards, wallets, money, gift bags and other treats as prizes for various competitions.

Community members were excited and appreciative of the event.

“Most of them didn’t have food for that day and our visit was a breath of fresh air. Everyone started inquiring about our next trip,” Wright said.

She explained that while the foundation continues to assist the community, there are some other objectives it would like to fulfil.

“Next on our agenda is to award a graduating sixth grade student with a scholarship to help with high school expenses,” she explained.

She noted that the group will be donating tablets to the Edgehill School Special Education in Ocho Rios, and there are also plans to host a fund-raiser in the parish.

“Our organisation is also assisting Tiny Hope Children’s Home with their Christmas Project in December, and we have hired a trained early childhood educator — Keisha Marston to help children we are assisting, who cannot attend school due to a medical condition,” she said.

Wright expressed gratitude to those who worked with the foundation to make the event a success. This included Tiny Hope, Paul Brown, Cedella Marley Booker Basic School, Davion Forbes, Sabriena Simpson, Donnet Nisbett Alexa Marcado, Nickalos Palmer, Judene, Shammy Smith, Kimberlee Kirlew, Cherline Charles, and donors out of Florida.