As Jamaica continues to grapple with confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a number of private sector entities are stepping up and showing support in the response effort to help citizens who are being impacted.

Nestlé Jamaica, through its Health and Wellness Foundation, is among the companies offering much-needed assistance to help with the Government’s response effort by providing care packages to residents in the communities that have been affected by the quarantine order by the Government, in an effort to curtail the spread of COVID-19.

The Bull Bay area in St Andrew East Rural is one such community that has been impacted, and which has limited the movement of residents significantly in and out of the community, impacting their ability to get essential items, such as food for themselves and their family.

The community, on Thursday, March 26, received a generous donation from Nestlé Jamaica, with numerous food and beverage items handed over, which are to be distributed to community members. In handing over the packages to Member of Parliament for the area Juliet Holness, General Manager for Nestlé Jamaica Health and Wellness Foundation Garfene Grandison shared that the MP reached out to Nestlé for support, and as a socially responsible company that cares about the community and believes in giving back, he said this was a natural response to a call for assistance.

“It is a challenging time for our country. We are going through a crisis and there are some persons who are significantly affected, and with our main focus being on the health and wellness of our consumers, we at Nestlé want to play our part in ensuring that those persons, especially the most vulnerable who are being quarantined and unable to access food, are able to have healthy and nutritious meals to get them through this period,” Grandison said.

In receiving the items on behalf of her constituents, Holness expressed gratitude to Nestlé for stepping up as a private sector organisation and helping in the COVID-19 efforts. She noted that the items will certainly go a far way in assisting residents of the community.

Nestlé has also made several other donations during this period to help various groups of vulnerable citizens. These donations were made to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security on Friday, March 20, Maxfield Park Children’s Home on Monday, March 16, and Restaurant Associates – to assist with meals for students on the PATH Programme, on Monday, March 23.