KINGSTON, Jamaica – More than 120 mothers from Parade Gardens and surrounding areas enjoyed a treat on Sunday at the Holy Family Primary School in Kingston.

The Mother’s Day Brunch celebration is held annually by Shanmarie Hylton, a former resident of Parade Gardens who started the initiative four years ago in honour of her late mother and other moms of the Central Kingston community.

“I have been living in the US for the past nine years, and four years ago, out of a tribute to my late mother, she died six years ago to the exact, I decided to start this Mother’s Day brunch in her honour,” Hylton told Observer Online.

“We started at the house on Gold Street, invited a few persons [for] food, drink, music, dancing, and this is the fourth year. Now we have been given a bigger space at the Holy Family Primary,” she added.

Damion Hylton, one of the organisers of the event, lauded the role of mothers in Parade Gardens which he noted, despite facing numerous challenges, has produced many highly accomplished individuals.

“The community of Parade Gardens is currently a ZOSO [Zone of Special Operations], but outside of being a ZOSO, it’s a community that has also produced a lot of very good people who have done a lot of good things in the community,” he said, adding “We want to thank those who have come on board this year like the Council of Voluntary Social Services, Project Star, the JMMB Foundation, all the persons in the diaspora, [and] the Member of Parliament, Donovan Williams.”

Williams, who is the MP for Kingston Central, said he was “happy” to support the initiative.

“I’m very pleased to participate and be one of the sponsors and it is good to respect and show appreciation to the mothers in the community, some of them stalwarts in the community in helping to maintain the social fabric of the community,” he noted.