Amid the chaos triggered by looting in Black River, St Elizabeth, last Thursday, one supermarket operator won high praise from staff and other residents for her generosity and sympathy for the plight of hurricane victims.

Sonia Graham at SNC Supersave gave food and other supplies to people desperate to survive the after-effects of Hurricane Melissa which devastated the historic town on Jamaica’s south-western coast.

“I have worked at SNC for 17 years, and I’m telling you, our boss Sonia Graham is the best boss we ever had because, see it now, we are in famine right now and our co-workers are getting groceries,” Latoya Thompson, a resident of Brompton district in the parish, told the Jamaica Observer.

“They opened the doors and fed everybody! Mostly the staff, but others [too]. You have officers, government workers, [they are just] trying to help,” added Thompson who had bags of groceries which she intended to have transported to where she was staying with the help of a co-worker who had a bus.

“My house vanish, everything vanish,” she said. “There’s nothing. My home blow down. When the storm hit off the first zinc my children dem scream. I said, ‘Don’t panic.’ I ran to call help and took up my two sons.”

Despite her plight, Thompson remained hopeful.

“I put my trust in God and the prime minister to see what he can do for us,” she said.

When Sunday Observer attempted to speak to one of the owners, who was at the store during the storm, he was unable to give an interview, citing the trauma of the experience.

There were unconfirmed reports from residents that at least one Chinese-owned grocery mart unlocked the doors, took money from the register, and instructed the residents to take what they needed.