Jamaica and West Indies batting star Marlon Samuels, through his foundation, continued a glowing innings in giving back to the Jamaica Society for the Blind as he reached the $1.85-million milestone in aiding the visually impaired.

The Marlon Samuels Foundation, which supports Jamaica Society for the Blind to fulfil its mandate of promoting the welfare, education and employment of persons who are blind or visually impaired, yesterday handed over a symbolic cheque of $1.5 million to the Society.

A further $350,000 was also extended to Garfield Mitchell, 23, a visually impaired student of the Church Teachers’ College, who achieved seven CXC subjects with grades one and two.

Since starting the foundation in 2013, Samuels has so far donated well over $3 million to the cause and told the Jamaica Observer that he is “willing to continue that hard work, as he believes there is a lot more help to offer”.

“I started this foundation because I am always somebody that gives back wherever I can; the first year I spent a million and asked Digicel to help and they did, the second year I spent another million and asked Lime (now FLOW) and they helped me a lot and the third year I did the party and asked everybody to donate to the foundation.

“So far it has been wonderful… I am not going to say it’s easy, but I have often said playing cricket for so many years is what makes a Marlon Samuels and this is something that I am going to continue to do. I started a movement called the ‘Icon Movement’, which is something that is very powerful and it’s going to be helping people’s lives and giving people the opportunity,” the outspoken player said at a press conference at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel yesterday.

Former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller joined Minister of Sports Olivia Grange as well as West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) President Dave Cameron and president of West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) Wavell Hinds were on hand to commend Samuels.

The specialist West Indies batsman made the bold move after being hit by a ball from Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga through the grill of his helmet, while representing Melbourne Renegades in the Australian Big Bash Twenty20 tournament in 2013.

The blow left the right-handed batsman partially blind for two weeks, where he had to stay in his hotel room with swelling and bruising, before doing surgery for a fractured eye socket.

After recovering, the now 36-year-old all-rounder pledged his support for the blind and visually impaired community and has been leading the campaign with great form and posture.

However, after recently winning an out-of-court defamation lawsuit against former Australian pacer Geoff Lawson for calling him a “gangster”, Samuels is aiming to do much more.

“I wanted to do something bigger and this is much bigger, but I touch a lot of people’s lives, I’ve helped a lot of people and I realise that it’s fun, so this is something that I am going to continue to do. There should be some money left over in the foundation, so I am going to target somebody else, see if I can help their life and give them the opportunity,” noted Samuels.

“So that’s why I started the new ‘Icon Movement’ aimed at changing people’s lives and hopefully others can follow. As I said you don’t have to give people money, but you can stop and have a conversation, so the movement is an all-round movement of everything,” he continued.

Meanwhile, Damion McLean, representing the Jamaica Society for the Blind, welcomed the contribution to the over 60-year-old organisation, which cares for over 40,000 blind and over 80,000 visually impaired individuals.

“When a contribution of this magnitude is made, it helps us significantly in terms of rehabilitative services, we have been around for over 60 years and our work has contributed to successes that you see day in and out. A perfect example would be that of Senator Floyd Morris, who today leads the charge in many ways as it relates to persons with disabilities.

“The work continues and the Jamaica Society for the Blind does not intend to stop here, we have a lot more Floyd Morrises to create. So once again thank you very much and I appeal to other foundations out there to follow the trend that the Marlon Samuels Foundation has set,” said McLean.