MONTEGO BAY, St James – With more than $4 million raked in from its annual fund-raiser, the western chapter of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) is now moving ahead with plans to improve conditions at three facilities in its section of the country.

Among the institutions that will benefit is the School for the Deaf in Lethe, St James.

“We did some work there before; we did the entire emergency and fire drill safety equipment there. Now they needed some other stuff for continuity at the school and we decided we were going to give them some support in terms of their water storage systems that they would need for the overnight care of their wards,” said chair of the JHTA’s western chapter Nadine Spence.

In addition, the Cartagena Basic School in Granville will get support for a playground for the children while the SOS Children’s Village will get much-needed assistance with routine maintenance.

“We did the groundwork initially and we got some quotations from some of the persons who are able to curate such projects. We are hoping to just choose the best of them. We are just waiting on one more and then we should start anytime now,” Spence told the Jamaica Observer.

These projects are an extension of work previously done by the group.

“We had a Save the Child programme and we wanted to expand that where it would benefit more individuals, a whole school, a whole community rather than just one or two individuals. This is why we decided to expand it in such a way, and education has always been our primary focus,” Spence explained.

The chapter’s annual fund-raiser brought together tourism stakeholders to enjoy a variety of delectable food offerings paired with wine and other beverages. This year’s event was the first since the COVID-19 pandemic and it appears it was eagerly anticipated.

“We literally had to announce that the event was oversold,” a beaming Spence told the Observer.

Pleased with the generosity of attendees, she believes this bodes well for future fund-raising events.

“We now realise that this is a calendar event that persons look forward to. The support of the hoteliers and allied members [was] just overwhelming; it was indeed one of the best we’ve had so far,” Spence said.