FOLLOWING the devastation brought by Hurricane Melissa, the Florida-based Living Well Community Care Centre (LWCCC) has donated $1 million to the 4H Foundation Jamaica (4HFJ), to provide funding for young farmers to bolster the island’s food security.

“We know that the 4H Foundation pretty much enhances youth in various spectrum and so we were asked to help with the recovery and resuscitation of the agro sector. So it will be determined by the 4H Foundation where is most in need, and what area in the produce is most necessary at this time [for] the productivity and recovery of agriculture foods and supplies,” said chief executive officer of the LWCCC Dr Joan Williamson.

Speaking at the handover of the $1-million cheque at the 4H headquarters in Kingston on Friday, Williamson said the partnership was established between the entities shortly after the Category 5 storm struck the island on October 28, 2025.

Williamson, who is based in the Florida, told the Jamaica Observer that a group from the LWCCC of 30 medical professionals and lay people gave aid to at least 800 people in the western side of the island for 10 days and provided them with health care, food, and care packages in the immediate aftermath of Melissa.

According to Williamson, when the request came from the 4H to help once more — this time through sustainability support rather than relief aid — she immediately jumped into action to support the youth.

“We believe in empowering our youths to continue in agriculture because I do not believe that we have to import agricultural products from anywhere else. We here, and I say ‘we’ because even though I live abroad, when I come here, I want real food that is grown in Jamaica.

“That is the heart of our mission on this weekend, to be here to support the endeavours. It will be an ongoing effort, and we will be reaching out to more sponsors in the United States and across the globe to the diaspora to ensure that Jamaica gets the recovery that it needs after Melissa,” added Williamson.

Meanwhile, director of field services at the 4HFJ Garfield Ewart pointed out that creating provisions to bolster food security is important as the nation continues to battle with extreme weather events yearly.

“There needs to be a succession plan for our farming community. The farmers who are here now feeding us, they might not be the farmers feeding us tomorrow and we need a set of competent persons who are ready to take centre stage as it relates to agricultural production,” said Ewart.

He argued that self-sustenance is necessary as he highlighted that through continued partnership, the 4H Foundation would continue to play its part in ensuring that Jamaica’s food supply remains abundant.

“We have to do everything to strengthen our food security. The Jamaica 4H Club stands resolute to ensure that we support persons who can contribute to the production of what we need to survive here in Jamaica so that persons have access to nutritious food at all times.

“So this initiative is helping that effort to support youth farmers to contribute to the food security that we all seek to achieve in the near future. We are not there as yet. Unfortunately, there are persons living here in Jamaica who have challenges to access affordable nutritious food and we want everyone, every Jamaican, to have that access,” added Ewart.