THE spirit of volunteerism has characterised Dr Tamika Peart for as long as she can remember, and is one which, for her, requires no special reward.

She is, nonetheless thankful to be among the 44 Jamaicans recently bestowed with the 2021 Governor General’s Achievement Award.

Dr Peart, the recipient for St Ann, was recognised for service in volunteerism as well as her academic achievements in the 25-35 age category.

The award is one of three categories under the Governor General’s Achievement Award Scheme, which was established in 1991 to acknowledge and reward the meaningful contribution of individuals at the community level.

The scheme celebrates the volunteers’ success and highlights their impact on community and national life.

“When I got the award that evening and I was in my family group talking, I said, ‘The only regret I have is that mama (great grandmother) is not alive to see this’, because I was really my great grandmother’s child. She (Gwendolyn Frater Williams) was my mother and my father. So an award like this is really the result of what she instilled in me from a very young age,” Dr Peart said.

The awardee says she is always volunteering or finding something to do within her community, or wherever she is located.

This, she maintains, “is an act of humanitarianism and something that you should be doing.”

Born and raised in the rural community of Bethany in St Ann, Dr Peart says she was consistently engaged in activities on the north coast, particularly relating to the environment even before the subject became “trendy”.

“I was always out there cleaning up the seaside, picking up bottles, working with poor families to build houses. For Labour Day projects, I was and continue to be engaged,” she adds.

Dr Peart says her participation in charitable activities and volunteerism dates to her younger years when she became “old enough” to accompany her late great grandmother on trips to various households in the community to distribute food packages and assist the elderly.

The awardee credits her for moulding her into the woman she is today, noting that she created a non-profit organisation in her great grandmother’s honour called ‘House of Gwen’.

“The logo for House of Gwen is two hands and a kitchen, and that’s my best memory of my great grandmother. She was always feeding people; she was always in the kitchen. But whatever she was doing, her hands and heart were involved,” Dr Peart shared.

She said one of her latest initiatives has been a development project for families in St Ann.

“When this [issue] about poverty at a household level being on the rise emerged, [coupled with] COVID-19, I, through my own initiative, raised funds and carried those to some households in St Ann,” she explained.

Dr Peart, who is a graduate of Northern Caribbean University in Mandeville where she completed her undergraduate degree, was also an active member of the school community as well as the area in which she resided while studying.

She, among other things, organised various food and clothing drives to assist vulnerable groups in and around those areas.

Dr Peart later completed her PhD in rural development and management in 2019, on a scholarship sponsored by the Chinese government.

Her hope is that all children and youth in Bethany, and by extension Jamaica, will strive for success while embracing the spirit of volunteerism.