AS Hurricane Beryl rehabilitation efforts continue islandwide, manufacturing giant Red Stripe has extended an additional $4 million in cash and kind to the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ).

This donation will aid in distributing care packages to more than 400 families in the hardest-hit parishes and facilitating re-roofing, through the Food For the Poor Jamaica (FFPJ) charity.

“Witnessing the grave effects of the hurricane, we have mobilised a rapid and comprehensive rehabilitation initiative aimed at providing critical support to communities severely impacted by the hurricane. To ensure efficient and effective distribution of this aid, we have partnered with the Food For the Poor Jamaica to assist with care package distribution and housing rehabilitation,” said executive director of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, Sacha Vaccianna-Riley.

The PSOJ has now raised $20 million in donations to support communities affected by Hurricane Beryl. The funds will be used for the distribution of care packages to families in the hardest-hit parishes, including St Elizabeth, Clarendon, and Manchester, and for re-roofing homes in Clarendon and Manchester.

“This relief effort has been made possible through the generous donations of several prominent companies, including Red Stripe. We welcome the support and we are grateful for this eager collaboration especially during a time of crisis. These organisations which have contributed through cash and/or in-kind donations, exemplify corporate Jamaica’s readiness to support national disaster recovery efforts and provide targeted assistance to Jamaican communities in their time of need,” added Vaccianna-Riley.

Complementing this recent donation to the PSOJ, Red Stripe, through member brands and its Desnoes & Geddes Foundation, has also extended a $1-million donation to south-eastern Clarendon to purchase essential tools and materials needed to rebuild homes severely damaged by the storm; and officially scrapped the Guinness Sounds of Greatness final for finalists, Simple Touch and RockWildaz.

This allowed the two sounds to be honoured as co-winners and equally receive a share of the $1.5-million prize as they have also been impacted by the disaster.

“Acknowledging the widespread impact of the disaster, we immediately decided to re-strategies and extend our support in multiple ways. It wasn’t a difficult decision — our consumers and the broader community needed our help. So far, we’ve made several donations to various causes, and we sincerely hope they have made a difference. After all, our mission to ‘care for people’ extends beyond our employees, customers, and consumers to all Jamaicans, especially in their time of greatest need,” said Red Stripe’s head of commerce Sean Wallace.