MAY PEN, Clarendon — Junior Wilson believes in leaving no task undone, and so he was back on the streets of May Pen yesterday, searching for homeless mothers whom he had missed on Mother’s Day as he handed out baskets of goodies. This is his way of honouring the memory of his mom.

“My mother passed away almost 30 years ago and I realise that each year Mother’s Day gets harder and harder for me. I keep thinking of all the things I would do for my mother if she were alive, so I thought why not just channel that emotion into doing something nice for other mothers. This whole thing came about as a result of me trying to fill the void left by my mother,” shared the well-known proprietor of Stoplight Wholesale.

He shares the view that all mothers are special — having brought life into this world — but on Mother’s Day only some are pampered and shown appreciation. So he set out to change that.

“I want them to feel appreciated, not because they are homeless. Believe me, they really appreciate it to the point where some of them were brought to tears. I think this is something I want to do in the future. I am already planning to go bigger and better next year because when I see how they react it touches me even more. It’s really rough out there for the homeless people, because for some it’s because of some unfortunate situations why they are [living on] the [streets],” he told Jamaica Observer.

According to Wilson, most people seek to reach out to others — including the homeless — at Christmas, but rarely on Mother’s Day. “The mothers on the street want to feel appreciated too. I’ve always been donating, giving back to the less fortunate and helping children with back to school. So I decided to reach out to mothers who are homeless. This is a new one for me, but it’s really special and dear to me. It feels good but it was very emotional,” he said.

He estimated that he spent over $40,000 on Monday to provide an additional 12 gift baskets for homeless mothers who didn’t get one on Sunday.

Those who received the gifts said they were extremely grateful for the baskets with food items, toiletries and cosmetics. They said while they often get food from the kind hearted, this was their first time receiving gifts like these on a special day.