NEGRIL, Westmoreland – When organisers launched a cricket summer camp, they expected only a handful of children to show up. They were caught off guard by the response.

“I only expected about seven children,” Dixeth Palmer, president of the Allan Rae Oval and Sports Complex Committee, told the Jamaica Observer. “But when we started we had about 20. I couldn’t turn them back. We cook each day and the children, most of them from the community of Retreat, will learn the physical and theoretical aspects of cricket. Mentors will be brought in to make presentations to the youths.”

The Allan Rae Oval Youth Cricket Summer Camp has been running every Wednesday and Thursday since July 12 and ends on August 18. Palmer said he and fellow committee member Kamar “Garnet” Noble fund the camp, which is free of cost to any child who wishes to attend. There has also been huge support from the Hedonism II Foundation which is on a mission to develop skills and talent in youngsters through education and sports.

“We are giving [the children] an opportunity to rise and shine and to reach and realise their full potential,” administrator of the Hedonism II Foundation, Fiona McGrowder told the Jamaica Observer.

This May, the foundation renovated the complex’s multi-function building which will be used to house a sports academy. The project will not only benefit youngsters in Retreat, but will also boost the economic viability of the community on a whole.

“It will benefit the community socially, economically and entertainment wise,” Noble told Observer West. “Once there are events, people from the community will come to vend. It is vital to the development of the Retreat community. As they say, a community should have a community centre, a church and a school.”

The multi-purpose building will house the administrative and first aid treatment room, a kitchen, a storeroom, two changing rooms which will be used as dorms when there is a camp in progress or classrooms for the learning centre, as well as a recreational area with a bar to be used for fund-raising events.

Palmer pointed out that since the refurbishing done by the Hedonism II Foundation, several activities have already been scheduled that will help create revenue streams for the complex and, by extension, the community.

For example, the HanoWest Cricket tournament, which will be sponsored by the Hedonism II Foundation, is scheduled to begin in September and will include primary schools in Westmoreland and Hanover. And the Blind Cricket Association will be hosting a one-day tournament in October, featuring a visiting team from the United States of America.

General manager of Hedonism II Luis Fitch is pleased with the role they have played in spreading awareness about the game of cricket.

“I see cricket dying, not many children are playing that sport. It’s a tradition of the West Indies and Jamaica, so I would love to see more being played,” he said. “We are very happy to be here and to be working with the community, which is the community of many of our team members.”

The collaboration with Allan Rae Oval and Sports Complex Committee is the latest in a number of projects the foundation has initiated since 2022, and most of them are long-term efforts that are expected to benefit several generations for years to come. Other projects include the planting of 20 tree seedlings and the installation of tree labels along the perimeter of the Revival Primary School playground for International Earth Day.

They are also responsible for installing the cable infrastructure at Green Island Primary School to facilitate Internet access for the school’s computer lab.

The foundation has also donated more than 100 text and reading books as well as a variety of school supplies to various institutions in Westmoreland and Hanover. In addition, it provides scholarships for Hanover and Westmoreland-based Primary Exit Profile (PEP) graduates who are matriculating to high school as well as high school graduates who are matriculating to tertiary institutions.