Lucinda Cross hails value of giving back
THE proverbial “village raising a child” environment is one which can only benefit those in need, and it’s important that this village is available to help those most vulnerable. Explaining how impactful this experience was in her teenage years, when her “village” stood behind her, author and motivational speaker Lucinda Cross told guests gathered for the annual Children of Jamaica Outreach (COJO) gala and awards ceremony in New York earlier this month, that it’s important to continue their support of the charity which helps some of Jamaica’s most vulnerable.
“In the midst of my own childhood tribulations as a teenager, one thing my village didn’t do was give up on me. My mother worked so hard, and what she did leave me was a village. It’s important to have that village [that’s willing to make] an investment in children,” said Cross, the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from former US President Barack Obama, and a woman who advocates for overlooked and marginalised women.
COJO, which this year celebrates 25 years of giving back to youth in Jamaica and the United States, raises funds throughout the year, culminating in the annual fund-raising gala at Hilton JFK Hotel. The charity relies on individual and collective support — whether from individuals making tax-deductible donations, or volunteers donating their time to help improve the health, education and general well-being of those vulnerable children identified, and the non-government agencies that are best positioned to address their needs.
“When we transform the lives of children in need we guarantee a better future for the whole world,” said COJO founder Gary Williams.— Petulia Clarke-Lawrence
It’s a position also adopted by Cross, who preached the importance of ‘each one help one’. A woman whose story is of triumph and overcoming the odds of incarceration as a teen, the best-selling author now uses her message to inspire thousands.
“It’s the village that we’re here for. It’s the village where we get our resources,” Cross told the attendees. “It takes a village to raise a family, a parent, a child. [My village] didn’t give up on me — the village said, ‘you’re destined to do great things; remember your name, remember your legacy, we’re here to support you’.”
This work, she told the guests, “takes dedication, it takes wisdom, and takes [their] contribution”.
Proof of the work of COJO’s “village” was seen in the gratitude expressed on behalf of present, past and future COJO scholars by Golda Mae Bullock, a former ward of the State, 2017 COJO scholarship recipient, and The University of the West Indies graduate.
In outlining her journey with the COJO family over the last three years, Bullock said she had moved from depression to jubilation.
“It’s overbearing sometimes. At 10,11,12 we don’t know how to combat certain issues, and sometimes you don’t see your situation as a choice — a choice to become a victor or a victim of circumstances of the harsh social and economic realities,” she related.
She said after losing her family she was depressed to the point of contemplating suicide, and couldn’t even recognise the help that the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) was offering because of her depression and overwhelming anxiety.
But she finally “ran into the arms” of the agency, and started her transformation.
The value of the scholarships awarded by COJO this year almost doubles the US$25,000 disbursed in 2018, coming in at US $40,000 for 10 wards of the State — up from six — to pursue their dreams of tertiary education. Over the last six years COJO has awarded scholarships to 25 students, amounting to over US$100,000.
CPFSA CEO Rosalee Gage-Grey told the Jamaica Observer at the scholarship awards in September that the number of passes attained by wards of the State in external examinations have also been trending upwards in recent years.
“I want the donors to know that [their donations are] going towards something great,” said Shanique Williams, an aspiring actress and drama therapist at the September awards.
Williams, who was presented with a scholarship valued at US$5,000, and who is now enrolled at Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, said she hopes to pay it forward in time.
