KINGSTON, Jamaica — Mary’s Child has benefited from a donation of $411,700 to assist its work in providing housing and other assistance for teen mothers and their babies.

The funds were provided by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and the United States (US) based Links charity.

Mary’s Child, which is a programme under the Mustard Seed Communities, is a residential facility for teen mothers and accommodates 12 mothers and their babies for one year.

Regional Director, AHF, Dr Kevin Harvey, who handed over the cheque to administrator of Mary’s Child Nadia Williams on Monday, said that the donation came out of a visit to the home by the AHF managers from the US earlier this year, who indicated that they were “very impressed with the girls and how the home was being run”.

He noted that the foundation had already provided a grant of approximately $250,000 to the home to help with food and other needs.

“They decided that they wanted to raise some funds to add to whatever we were providing,” Dr Harvey said, noting that the AHF connected with Links to raise the money.

Meanwhile, Dr Harvey reiterated his organisation’s support to the Mustard Seed Communities.

“We have provided support to the Mustard Seed Communities over a number of years and, particularly, we provide support to children living with HIV at the Dare to Care facility, so we have been doing that for three years and that has been consistent,” he said.