Hanover trailblazer wins Grace award
TWENTY-NINE-year-old communication student and resident of Hanover, Claudia Alecia Gardner, is the 2007 Grace Trailblazer Award recipient. She was presented with a trophy and $50,000, at an event witnessed by over 8,000 persons from the parish.
The event was the first in a series of roadshows being hosted by Grace Foods Limited in Lucea on Saturday, January 27.
Gardner met the the criteria for selection, which included contributing significantly to the upliftment of her community while at the same time being committed to self-development.
The selection for the Trailblazer Award was done in partnership with the Social Development Commission and will be done in other parishes, to unearth young achievers who qualify in the areas of community work; innovation in science and technology; outstanding achievement in the arts and culture; innovation in agriculture; concern for the young and the aged as well as furthering the cause of development in Jamaica.
Speaking at the handing over ceremony, Ryan Mack, general manager of Grace Foods and Services Company, said he was amazed at Gardner’s achievements, despite her age, and that she had served her parish and her country with distinction. Gardner graduated from Rusea’s High School at 15, went on to do her Advanced Level studies at Excelsior Community College, worked as a pre-trained teacher at the Middlesex Corner Primary in the parish, and then joined the Jamaica Defence Force.
She did further studies at the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication at the University of the West Indies then left the JDF to become a journalist. She became involved in activities to defend the environment and to uplift the parish of Hanover. She is currently in her final year at CARIMAC where she is pursuing a Bachelors Degree majoring in Media and Communication (specialising in Social Marketing) and a minor in Cultural Studies.
Community involvement has been Gardner’s passion since she was a teenager. It was no surprise that over the years she has donated her time and skills to almost every civic and community organisation within the parish of Hanover. These included doing fund-raising for the Waterworks Football Club based in Lucea and assistance with the formation of the Bull Bay Citizens Association. She was also instrumental in helping many young people to be trained in hospitality skills. She served as a director of the Hanover Chamber of Commerce. Through her work as a journalist, she helped to highlight the activities of the bee farmers within Hanover. She worked tirelessly to obtain funding for young football groups in the parish and has been a formidable force behind the Hanover Parish Development Committee.
Gardner said she was ecstatic that the first award was made in Hanover and that she was the one to receive it. “People tend to be recognised when they are old or after they have died … I am really honoured to have received this award from GraceKennedy,” she said.
“We feel that it is important to celebrate the good things about Jamaica land we love,” Mack said. “It is quite unfortunate that we hear too much about the bad things that are happening in our country. Good things are going on. We need to hear more about that side of our country. There are things to celebrate, such as the achievements of our people.”
He called on the media to help celebrate the achievements of young people by highlighting the positive things that they are doing.
Grace Foods will be going through every parish to identify these young achievers.
“Our plan is to find them and hold them up as examples for other young people to follow. These young achievers are our country’s future,” he said.
