THE Tawes Meadows Benevolent Society recently hosted its annual treat in celebration of Child Month, with this year’s beneficiaries being students of Morgan’s Early Childhood Development Centre in Spanish Town, St Catherine.

The day’s activities, which was sponsored by the Citizens Security and Justice Programme, began with devotion followed by lots of fun and food. Throughout the day members of the group entertained the students, reading them stories, and engaging them in dance, songs and recitatian of popular Jamaican poems.

President of the society Alexander Shaw said such an initiative was necessary in light of the scant regard for the nation’s children in certain volatile areas across Jamaica.

“While it is constantly avowed and proclaimed by society that children are our future, Jamaica has encultured a practice to only inspect closely issues affecting children after an horrific event has occurred,” Shaw said.

The nation, he said, is too busy conducting post post-mortem reviews rather than building a sturdy relationship with children who are the future.

“In trying to remedy the issue, the organisation made it its mandate to have two outreach programmes annually, the second being a back-to-school treat in August to show children how much they are loved and how worthwhile they are to society,” he said.

While much of the attention is placed on primary school, the group believes many have failed miserably to realise that the wounds are mostly created at the early stage and only become worse at the elementary stage.

The group, under the leadership of Shaw who is the national youth and Community ambassador for CSJP volatile communities on the State’s planning committee and Public Relation Officer of the St. Catherine Child Protection Committee, has been caring for more than 10 years.