They recently celebrated milestone birthdays, just one week apart: 80-year-old Glen Christian and 70-year-old Gary “Butch” Hendrickson.

Jokingly they refer to themselves as “partners in crime”, but in reality they are partners in extraordinary acts of philanthropy. Christian’s mother Evelyn Mitchell was a market vendor whose entrepreneurial spirit influences her son, while Hendrickson is a scion of a family who started out as bakers and now owns leading companies in tourism, manufacturing, and food processing.

Christian, chair of the Cari-Med Foundation, and Hendrickson, chair of the National Baking Company (NBC) Foundation, have initiated a ‘STEM for Growth’ task force.

For Christian’s 80th birthday he gifted Jamaica with US$1 million towards the building of a science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) centre and asked the Government to assign a section of the National Water Commission (NWC) lands on Marescaux Road so the centre could be located across the street from his alma mater, The Mico University College.

In 2021 Hendrickson’s NBC Foundation pledged US$1 million, partnering with The University of the West Indies for the Building Out Our STEM Teachers (BOOST) Programme.

They say charity begins at home, and in 2010 Christian created the Evelyn Mitchell Infant School, named for his beloved mother, in his home district Brandon Hill, Clarendon. His foundation also initiated the establishment of the Brandon Hill Evening Institute and funded computer labs at the community’s infant and primary schools in 2014.

Christian founded Cari-Med Group Limited in 1986. Beginning with three employees, Christian’s companies now employ some 800 people and is the leading Jamaican distributor of pharmaceutical and consumer goods. In 2014 he established the Union Gardens Foundation to support the construction of early childhood institutions in low-income communities. The model Union Gardens Infant School enjoyed the investments of both Christian and his good friend Hendrickson.

About 20 years ago Hendrickson decided that he wanted every child in an early childhood institution to have the tools of learning. Each year he would halt manufacturing activities at National Baking so the staff could pack over 2,500 learning kits for the little ones, transporting them on the company’s trucks for distribution throughout Jamaica. Then he invested in a mobile training classroom, complete with driver and instructor, to deliver lessons to early childhood teachers.

Realising that many Jamaican start-ups had limited resources to do marketing, Hendrickson sponsored ‘The Bold Ones of Manufacturing’ programme. Start-ups were given display booths at the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA) Expo, along with marketing videos and collapsible display material. He also had National Baking trucks printed with their ads and members of the public began asking if National had started to make slippers, lotions, and sauces. Now many of those start-ups are household names, including Chocolate Dreams, Lifespan Spring Water, AMG Packaging, Spur Tree Spices, and Home Choice.

To promote our local products, Hendrickson created A Jamaican-Made Christmas and provided free spaces at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel for local manufacturers to sell their goods. He is also an ardent supporter of Mustard Seed Communities, Sister Benedict’s Laws Street Trade Training Centre, Food For the Poor, and the St Patrick’s Foundation.

The remarkable quality that both men share is their humility. They wave away the many compliments they receive on their good works and remain approachable and practical.

As their companies continue to expand and prosper, we are reminded of God’s promise in Luke 6:38, “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

DR SHERMAN ON SUCCESSFUL AGEING

Last week the Caribbean Community of Retired Persons (CCRP) members enjoyed an enlightening presentation titled ‘Successful Ageing’ by Dr Fred Sherman, clinical professor of geriatrics, palliative medicine, and medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The internationally respected professor is the author of over 100 clinical publications, spanning his interests in the education of health-care professionals in geriatrics and systems of health care for the elderly.

“Old age is not a diagnosis,” maintains Dr Sherman. “All older adults are treatable and all older adults deserve a diagnosis. I have never cared for an older person or their family for whom I could not do something.”

It was as a result of his research on the impact of poor early childhood education that he and his wife Jamaican Pat Rowe, adjunct professor of nursing, founded the Learning is a Family Experience (LIFE) programme in both Jamaica and New York City. Dr Sherman’s research revealed that there is a seven per cent reduction in the risk of getting dementia if the individual has good early childhood education.

He shared other findings of percentage reduction if the following risk factors are eliminated. In midlife these are hearing loss 8 per cent; traumatic brain injury 3 per cent; hypertension 2 per cent; alcohol (more than 21 units per week) 1 per cent; and obesity 1 per cent. In later life, these are smoking 5 per cent; depression 4 per cent, social isolation 4 per cent; physical inactivity 2 per cent; air pollution 2 per cent; and diabetes 1 per cent.

Dr Sherman recommended the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet and the Mediterranean diet for better health, and both emphasise fresh fruits and vegetables, beans, peas, and nuts, all abundantly available in Jamaica. He warned against the use of too much sugar and red meat.

Dr Sherman emphasised the importance of exercise, even for users of wheelchairs in their 80s, showing how walking or exercising with ankle weights can reduce fat and increase muscle and bone density.

Dr Sherman shared points for wellness as we age, including giving service to others and engaging with fellow members at church or in voluntary organisations, speaking or meeting with family members regularly, having regular Zoom calls with friends and relatives, participating in grandchildren’s education, and to keep learning.

A TIME TO GRIEVE

We have lost many fine Jamaicans since the start of the year. These include Dr Richard Bernal, former Jamaican ambassador to the US; Henry Stennett, distinguished media veteran; John Mais, surveyor and chair of the Archdiocese Family Life Committee; retired Anglican Bishop of Kingston Robert Thompson; and former People’s National Party (PNP) Senator Delano Franklyn.

The tributes have been moving and the thread that runs through all of them is the excellence and nationalism displayed by these outstanding men and the countless lives they touched. We extend deep sympathy to their family members.

At press time the death toll from the Turkey-Syria earthquakes had risen to 26,000. The images of grieving relatives and exhausted responders are at times softened by the near-miraculous rescues. To make matters worse, they are making these efforts in the bitter cold, having to huddle around fires in open spaces to keep warm.

We have also heard news of building developers being arrested for the poor quality of their building materials. This is a heads up for our local developers and oversight authorities. Let us learn from this tragedy and take a second look at all these developments that are mushrooming overnight. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

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