ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica — A long-serving community volunteer whose quiet acts of kindness have touched generations in Black River was on Saturday recognised for decades of service to the most vulnerable, even as she continues to recover from damage to her own home caused by Hurricane Melissa.

The 89-year-old community stalwart, Marjorie Monteith, was commended by the National Commercial Bank (NCB) Foundation during an outreach initiative in Black River, Lacovia and Kilmarnock, where dozens of residents received care packages and other forms of support.

“She has been looking about people in her home from long before the hurricane came and even during the hurricane looking after people. We are in this area [going ] house-to-house giving out some care packages,” chief executive officer at NCB Bruce Bowen told Observer Online on Saturday in New Town, Black River.

Monteith reflected on her many years helping the less fortunate.

“I worked with them for many years. Then [the authorities] built a place for them where they could come and have breakfast, lunch and bathe. I used to help look after them all those years. Now I am not doing as well as I used to – sit with them, talk with them and help in whatever way I can,” she said.

“There is somebody there now who does the cooking, the washing, but I am not doing as much as I used to,” she added.

Monteith has continued to support the most vulnerable as she is well known in her community and the parish capital of Black River to the point where she still utilises her time to visit and speak to those in dire need.

“I feel awful if I cannot go and sit with them, because I love the street people. It hurts me when people treat [them badly],” she said.

“One and two of them come and visit me, because they know that I am not as well as I used to be, but it doesn’t stop me from going talking to them and loving them and helping them in whatever way I can. I give them food, money, and clothes. I have to pack a bag of the things I get and sometimes I take it up there myself and give it to them. Everyone loves me and I love them too,” she added.

Bowen lauded Monteith in referencing her care for the homeless.

“It is people like [Miss Monteith] who live the mantra that we have in building a better Jamaica, because it isn’t just always the big donations or the big construction projects, it is talking to that person who doesn’t have anyone to talk to,” he said.

“We have 15 of our volunteers here. We started at Black River Primary and looked at the devastation there. We were able to provide care packages to some of the families there connected with the school. Now we are just walking house-to-house talking to people and recognising the work they have done as a community to look after each other,” he said.

Head of the St Elizabeth police, Superintendent Coleridge Minto commended NCB Foundation for assisting citizens in the parish.

“We certainly have been supporting all the various organisations that have been coming into Black River not only for security presence, escorts, but to ensure that they can get to the affected communities and to go to where the people are requiring this kind of assistance,” he said.

“We will be going as far as Kilmarnock, way up in the hills, so they are going into some of these remote areas to ensure that the kind of support that we are giving is not just situated in Black River, but is also in the deep rural areas… Organisations like NCB, we are very grateful for the support that they are bringing to Black River at this time,” he stated.

Bowen lauded Minto for his stewardship in the St Elizabeth police division.

“The police under his leadership have been doing great things just connecting people. We have seen it everywhere we have stopped,” he said.

–        Kasey Williams