THE Kiwanis clubs of West St Andrew and Stony Hill, along with Jamaica Red Cross, in a combined effort of charitable giving, recently donated well-needed personal items to the Missionaries of the Poor. Father Richard Ho Lung-run Missionaries of the Poor.

The charities said the presentation was made in recognition of World Aids Day — December 1.

Twenty-seven people living with HIV are residents at The Lord’s Place in downtown Kingston. The facility is one of seven run by Missionaries of the Poor, which cares for people terminally ill with AIDS, orphans, malnourished children, the elderly, and retarded young women. It currently has 130 residents.

Additionally, the three charities said their motivation to assist was fuelled by the addition of 30 residents to The Lord’s Place after they were displaced by a fire on August 27, which consumed Good Shepherd Home on Tower Street in downtown Kingston. Almost 60 mentally retarded and physically-challenged men were displaced by the fire. The other 30 were accommodated at other facilities.

The items donated, which included mainly clothes, toiletries, and pillows, were well-received by Missionaries of the Poor, which thanked the charities for their “merciful and tender interaction with the residents”. The missionaries also commended the many other Jamaicans and charity groups who have “donated generously to the sense of family and community to the poorest and most vulnerable persons”.

“Without such gestures of kindness, Missionaries of the Poor would not exist. Our residents have no one else but our brothers, who with missionary hearts, have cheerfully given their lives to be with the retarded, handicapped and homeless children, youth and adults,” said Brother Alex Castaneda, who took members of the three charities on a tour of The Lord’s Place.