HOPEWELL, Hanover — Stakeholders in Hanover have welcomed a combined Government grant of nearly $8.5 million presented to 56 churches to support clean-up, restoration, and rehabilitation efforts following the devastating impact of last October’s Hurricane Melissa.

While the initiative has sparked public debate over whether State funds should be allocated to places of worship, local leaders argue that the critical role churches play in community resilience makes the assistance justified.

“I know that people were hesitant or maybe even in opposition to whether the Government should be doing something like this but I believe it is important what they have done and are doing because of the Church’s role in the community. The grants are not just being received for the churches’ personal benefit. The churches are usually places where the community benefits,” argued Reverend Sheldon Ashman in an interview with the Jamaica Observer on the sidelines of an event during which the Social Development Commission (SDC), along with the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, disbursed grants to places of worship.

It was held at Hopewell Deliverance Centre in Hanover last Friday.

“Sometimes our churches serve as points of meetings for different groups like RADA [Rural Agricultural Development Authority] and other groups of that nature who would want to have meetings in the community. Our churches serve the community in those respects, among other things that we do for the community,” added the clergyman.

Reverend Ashman, who supervises the four churches that make up Mount Moriah Circuit of Baptist Churches, explained the level of damage suffered by some churches.

“We have had from minor to severe to complete damage. Some churches were completely destroyed, others had really, really severe damage. Like my churches, we lost roofs,” he stated.

“Even if we had gotten some assistance today for that church, it still would not do anything significant to help us get it going. But for the churches that we have gotten assistance for, then it will certainly help us to even put back a door or a window… to be able to secure our buildings and to get them back on track so that we can, as I said, serve not just ourselves — because we believe that a church must serve the community,” added Reverend Ashman.

The churches also received support from politicians present during last Friday’s event.

“I believe that this is a good initiative in the right direction, considering the fact that this is a Christian nation and our churches play a vital role in building our nation. Giving them some assistance so that they can get themselves back together is very important,” argued deputy mayor of Lucea, Andria Dehaney Grant.

“We also know that a lot of the churches are having low congregation levels in terms of people who go, and a lot of them… [are seeing reduced] tithes and offerings. That may be one of the reasons why churches are not able to put back on their roofs by themselves or to clean up,” added Dehaney Grant.

Like the deputy mayor, Member of Parliament for Hanover Eastern and shadow tourism minister Andrea Purkiss also pointed to the role of churches in community recovery.

“The church is very important; I grew up going to the church, and it moulded me. Our communities right now need the church, based on where our youth’s minds are. Our youth are disenfranchised, so it’s important that the Church is looked at as an important entity after a major Category 5 hurricane,” she said.

Purkiss also made a call for local businesses to be provided with similar assistance to that provided to the churches.

“I would want to use this opportunity, though, to ask for some help from our local business owners. [They] are struggling across the constituency… and, of course, the [other] parishes and constituencies that would have been affected by the hurricane,” she said.

Minister of Local Government and Community Development Desmond McKenzie provided historical context.

“Our churches were the place where local government used to operate from. The vestries in every parish capital operated not just as a church, but as the [point of] administration of the political process back in those days so we can’t separate the State from the churches,” he argued.

“For those who want to say that the Government is bribing the church, again, I want to dismiss it as mischief and to say to them that any country that places the Church in a position where you compromise the church’s operation is asking for trouble,” added the minister.

The Hanover disbursement is part of a larger, $75-million Government relief programme managed by the SDC. The fund is targeting 420 assessed churches across the hardest-hit parishes of St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, St James, Trelawny and Hanover to help faith-based institutions restore operations.

The Hanover presentation was the second leg of the distribution. On April 17, 2026 the Government disbursed $17,635,000 to 101 churches in St Elizabeth.