JUNIOR Reid said he feels encouraged by the warm reception of Corporate Area residents to his recent distribution of care packages.

The reggae singer assisted families and individuals struggling to cope during the novel coronavirus pandemic. Beneficiaries of the gifts were in the Lindsay Crescent, Red Hills Road, Cassia Park, and Waterhouse communities.

The more than 300 packages contained rice, flour, tinned products, and hand sanitisers.

“It was well received by di people. Di people dem pleased. Me look forward fi do things fi di people ’cause if there was no people, there would be no Junior Reid,” he told the Jamaica Observer yesterday. “Is not about just being a artiste, it’s jus having a heart.”

He said he was planning another round of donations, but he is yet to set a date.

“Di likkle weh me can do, me ah go do. An’ my donation just go to the people straight,” he said.

Reid, best known for songs like Original One Blood, Positive, and Foreign Mind, explained to the Observer that in any period of uncertainty benevolence is critical.

“Wi haffi help di people, ’cause without dem there would be no Junior Reid or JR Productions. Yuh haffi help people who help build yuh,” he said.

Since the impact and spread of the coronavirus intensified in April, several major companies have either laid off workers or cut salaries to survive the crippling downturn in the Jamaican economy.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness reports that nine people have died and more than 500 people in Jamaica have tested positive for the disease.

— BB