The non-profit organisation that advocates the welfare of senior citizens says it has netted $800,000 from a fund-raising venture and is using the money to provide relief aid to elderly victims of Hurricane Melissa in Westmoreland and St Elizabeth.

Jean Lowrie-Chin, founder and executive chair of the Caribbean Community of Retired Persons (CCRP), made the announcement Friday at the organisation’s annual Living Legacy Awards ceremony at Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

Lowrie-Chin said the funds were raised in collaboration with Jamaica’s world-renowned National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC).

“Every year the NDTC have a season of dance, and so we took one of their evenings as a benefit for CCRP. So a certain amount is paid to NDTC and then all the other tickets that are sold go to the organisation’s benefits,” Lowrie-Chin said.

She added that the money was used to prepare 150 food and 150 hygiene packages, as well as 75 cases of water which will be delivered over this weekend to elderly residents of communities in St Elizabeth and Westmoreland that took the brunt of Category 5 Hurricane Melissa’s fury on October 28, 2025.

“Just this week we transferred the funds to Food for the Poor and today (Friday) the packages were ready. We picked up one set already… after this event we are going to pick up the other set,” she said.

The CCRP founder explained that 100 of the packages will go to St Elizabeth and will be distributed by the Breads Foundation and the Women’s Centre. The remaining 200 packages will go to Westmoreland and will be distributed by church volunteers.

“We are particularly concerned about our elderly, who are in the hardest hit areas of Jamaica. You notice you don’t even see them, they are probably lying down in their beds so weak and sick. They can’t even talk, some of them, and elderly people feel things more deeply than anybody else,” Lowrie-Chin said.

“And on top of that, most of them have health issues, so we asked them to do hygiene products like adult diapers and protein drinks so they can have some easy nutrition that they don’t have to refrigerate,” she added.

She said that the National Council for Senior Citizens has organised motorbikes to get into marooned communities.

“We have to congratulate them, because in hard to reach areas they have found a solution to deliver care packages,” she said.

Lowrie-Chin also shared that two CCRP members were severely affected by the storm.

“One of our CCRP parish representatives lives in Darlingston and we were trying to reach her. She was able to get Starlink to tell us that she lost her roof and she is now living in her car.

“Another one of our representatives in Trelawny also lost her roof and we are trying to assist her. They are the ones who have been doing our outreach throughout the year. They have been looking out for the elderly, giving out packages and everything,” Lowrie-Chin added.

She said that the money earned from Friday’s event will also go towards providing more relief aid for the elderly.

The CCRP was founded in 2010, and aims to empower seniors to continue making contribution to the development of communities, the country, and the region.

On Friday the organisation recognised 16 of its members for their distinctive contributions to nation-building.