THE Ebenezer Home for the Mentally Challenged and Homeless received a major boost last Friday at the Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston as Singer Jamaica Ltd presented the institution with a cheque for $300,000 towards their operations and programmes.

The donation was part of a $5-million donation from Singer through its ‘Enriching Lives Through Giving’ programme, in which a total of 16 local charities benefited. The Mandeville-based Ebenezer Home, according to Operations Manager Paulette Wheeler, would have been forced to close their doors in March 2017 due to lack of funding.

“We generally do not get much support from corporate Jamaica, but the past year, in particular, has not been good in terms of the aid we receive, so we would have been looking to close next March (2017),” explained Wheeler. “…We provide medication to the men who come in and the costs of the medication along with maintaining a 24/7 staff, as mental health patients cannot be left unattended, [but it] has been a challenge. That along with utility and food bills have exhausted the little resources of the home,” Wheeler said .

The Ebenezer Home provides a safe haven, shelter, food, and clothing for homeless men from Mandeville, Manchester and May Pen, Clarendon, along with medication to help them stabilise their various mental conditions. The home, said Wheeler, has sought to boost its income through the sale of produce it farms, which also provides food and gives the men of the home jobs and recreation to assist in their condition.

General manager for Singer Jamaica Ltd, Sharon Spence-Gibbs, those gathered for the handover ceremony that Singer is aware of the daily struggles charities experience with finance and the role of corporate companies to assist in this area as part of good corporate social responsibility.

“For 2016 we are assisting charities which offer care and give support to our citizens. We commend you all for your dedication, passion and commitment in caring for the most vulnerable members of our society, and today we want to showcase our own dedication. We are proud to be able to make this contribution to assist your operations in some way, and we implore others to step forward and assist in any way they can, be it monetary or volunteering their time to a more than worthy cause,” said Spence-Gibbs.

The other recipients are: The Golden Age Home, Missionaries of the Poor, Danny Williams School for the Deaf, Pringle Home for Children, SOS Children’s Village; Widow’s Mate, West Haven; Homestead Place of Safety; Strathmore Gardens Place of Safety, Sunshine Child Care Facility, Teen Challenge Jamaica, St Augustine Place of Safety, Sunbeam Children’s Home, Jamaica Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the Islamic Centre Medical Outreach Programme.