Help for Lewisville High is pouring in following the Jamaica Observer story that highlighted the plight of the school as it prepares to compete at the ISSA Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships set for March.

Lewisville High, located in the rural farming district of St Elizabeth, does not normally make headlines, but has been flung into the spotlight of recent times due to the athletic exploits of promising Class Four long jumper, 13-year-old Deodora Griffiths.

Obviously, the story of Lewisville High has touched the hearts and minds of people far and wide since this newspaper brought it to the world, where it highlighted the lack of basic equipment and gear as the institution prepares for the annual high school track and field meet.

Griffiths, who has stood head and shoulders above her peers in the long jump, has grown as an athlete even as the school lacks a proper long jump pit, and had to be honing her skills in a makeshft one. But she and her Coach Milton Brown have continued to work with what they have as they chase the dream of sporting glory.

Funding of the school’s sports programme has been a moutainous task, which involved the rearing of chickens to help some 50 athletes follow their dreams.

“A lady from Santa Cruz, who lives abroad, said she saw the article and said she wants to help, and I must send an invoice as she will take care of the gears [vest and shorts], which would be for 25 boys and 25 girls,” said Brown. That cost is estimated at $100,000.

“Mr Paul Fearon, owner of Jamaica Zoo in Lacovia, St Elizabeth, said he will check me, but I told him we will have to go through the principal because I believe in transparency.

“A friend of my friend says I must tell him what the girl [Griffiths] want. He is coming down next week,” Brown said in explaining the outpouring of promise of support coming from home and abroad.

The Observerhas received emails seeking contacts for Coach Brown and the school, and already discussions have started between the parties with the aim of giving Lewisville High a well-needed boost.

Kerry-Lee Ricketts, husband and coach of World Athletics Championships triple jump silver medallist Shanieka Ricketts, who also won the Diamond League and US$50,000, has promised to help.

“Coach Brown gave me a start at STETHS as the jumnps coach while assisting with some of the short sprints when I came back to Jamaica – it was there that I got the chance to gather local experience to be where I am now,” said Ricketts.

“I am giving back to several high schools in western Jamaica as that is where I am from. So Aberdeen High, Maggoty High, STETHS, Lacovia, Rusea’s High and Roger Clarke High, and now Lewisville.

“I will always support in whatever way I can, with the hope of inspiring and helping to improve even one youngster’s life,” he added.

Meanwhile, with the attention that the school has received following Griifths’ exploits in the long jump, Coach Brown revealed that he did not have space to accommodate the number of students who turned up on Monday for training.

“A lot of new faces turned out for training but I let them know that to come out now with couple weeks to Champs, it will be a tall order for them,” he pointed out.

“I feel good and I have to give God thanks. The whole community of Newmarket is happy and rallying around. It’s a feeling like Christmas; everybody giving and everybody buying Observer. They are very excited,” he noted.

Griffiths is regarded a rare talent who turned in the female performance of the meet at the JC/Purewater/R Danny Williams athletics event on January 4. She leapt 5.43m and smashed the Class Four long jump record of 5.37m established in 2019.

Then at the Queen’s/Grace Jackson meet on January 25, young Griffiths won the Class Four long jump with a leap of 5.03m, and just missed the record of 5.09m set in 2017 by Kay-Lagay Clarke of St Jago High.

Her Coach Brown believes the sky’s the limit for young Griffiths, who looks set to achieve great things despite the shortcomings of a school that doesn’t have the necessary tools or environment to ensure success at the moment.

Formed in 1989, Lewisville High was named after former Member of Parliament for St Elizabeth North Western Cleve Lewis, who conceptualised the idea of the school brought into fruition by his son Neville, also a former Member of Parliament.

With a population of approximately 500 students, Lewisville High will be hoping to make their mark at the all-island Boys’ and Girls’ Atheletics Championship in March.