THE National Baking Company Foundation is beaming after it officially handed over the first of 12 houses which it intends to donate to needy Jamaicans for Christmas.

The 12 houses were committed by the foundation at the launch of the Build Back The Love for Jamaica campaign, in partnership with Food For The Poor Jamaica, earlier this year.

At that time Craig Hendrickson, director of marketing and sales at National Baking Company, challenged members of the private sector to also donate and assist the charity with well-needed funds to construct more houses for the vulnerable and needy.

The first handover took place on Tuesday in Rose Hall, Linstead, St Catherine.

The recipient, 76-year-old retired vendor and widow Enid Walters-Johnson, had been living in a dilapidated house for more than 40 years. The house was on the verge of collapsing thus Walters-Johnson was overjoyed that the foundation could have granted her wish for a house this Christmas.

According to Walters-Johnson, in addition to having to bail out water each time it rained, the fear of the house collapsing on her and her 14-year-old great-granddaughter whom is raising rested heavily on her mind each day.

“The house is tearing down. It’s in bad condition. It has a lot of cracks and top tearing out and I’m getting wet when it rains. When mi seh wet, [it] wet a lot — especially the kitchen and the bathroom,” Walters-Johnson said.

Now that she has received a two-bedroom house in time for Christmas, she is overjoyed. “Mi feel good. Mi lef everything to God,” added Walters-Johnson..

She pointed out that getting the house was not an easy feat as she had to purchase the land from a good friend, Aston Blackwood, with the compensation she received from the death of her husband whose life was lost in a road fatality.

“My husband died over 20 years now, so from you know seh di breadwinner gone, everything gone… When you live good and you always do good to people and your church people dem, that’s how mi get by,” said Walters-Johnson.

The idea of applying for a house through Food For The Poor Jamaica was that of Blackwood’s, who will now be her neighbour.

Before officially handing over the house Lauri-Ann Samuels, executive director of National Baking Company Foundation, said it will continue to care for the Jamaican people, underscsoring, “Miss Enid and her great granddaughter being the first of more to come”.

“We are happy that we were able to help Miss Enid with this early Christmas gift. We will continue to be committed to our nation’s future; that is our main focus at National Baking Company Foundation,” Samuels said.

Marsha Burrell Rose, marketing and development manager at Food For The Poor Jamaica, said the charity is pleased with National’s commitment to fund the construction of 12 houses for needy families across the island.