HAVING previously held two fund-raising concerts (2017 and 2019) at the Couples San Souci resort in St Mary, The Issa Trust Foundation ‘For the Children’ charity gala concert is scheduled for New York City’s Sony Hall in Manhattan on November 12.

The event will be held under the distinguished patronage of Member of Parliament Juliet Holness, and under the auspices of the Consul General of Jamaica, New York, Alison Roach Wilson.

According to Issa Trust Foundation Chairman Paul Issa, the aim of the event is to raise funds to construct a health centre that will provide primary care to children and adolescents.

“This is our third event and this time we thought we’d try something in New York to get the Diaspora involved. It’s been challenging but I think it’s going to turn out okay. It’s a beautiful venue; we have great acts performing and its going to be a wonderful dinner with great cocktails,” Issa disclosed in an interview with the Jamaica Observer shortly after the event’s media launch at the Couples Tower Isle resort in St Mary on Friday.

The previous fund-raising concerts — held in 2017 and which featured Air Supply and Tessanne Chin, and in 2019 featuring Air Supply, Third World, and Koffee — raised funds for the paediatric ward at St Ann’s Bay Hospital and for programmes undertaken by the foundation.

Said Issa, “The health centre will be in Richmond, St Ann, and it will be named in honour of my grandmother, the late Mary Issa. It will provide primary health-care to reach as many children and adolescents as possible. The facility will fill a critical health-care gap in the parishes of St Mary and St Ann and across the island by providing primary care in an atmosphere that engages both patients and families in multifaceted, holistic services that address physical, mental and social support needs.”

Third World, Leon and the Peoples, and New York’s hottest reggae disc jock DJ Norie, who is of Haitian parentage, are the performers on the For the Children charity gala event line-up.

According to Issa the foundation, which has been around since 2005, has always been involved in giving back to children and young adolescents, but on a smaller scale.

“These are things that we’ve done over the years, even in church halls. We’ve now decided to do this health centre in St Ann and name it in honour of my grandmother who loved children, was a foster mother to many, and even adopted a few. She died in the early 1950s and my grandfather built the first Mary Issa Health Centre in Kingston, and it was a free clinic for kids. Sadly, it is no longer operated but now we have been lucky enough to have some generous sponsors to help us get this project going.”

Third World’s guitarist Stephen “Cat” Coore is happy to be a part of the fund-raising venture.

“The partnership basically started about three years ago when we played at Couples San Souci with Air Supply and Koffee. We really just liked the vibrations. Band member AJ Brown and I had the benefit of going to the St Ann’s Bay Hospital’s paediatric wing, and I was so impressed with what I saw the Issa Trust Foundation was doing there. The incubators have a whole area filled with equipment that they bought. We were so impressed that it became a relationship between us and the foundation, and we agreed to be their goodwill reggae ambassadors,” shared Coore.

He added, “We’re known to be a very good live act and the show itself will be good. We are looking forward to it and we are going to give our best, as usual.”

Mayberry Investments, Wisynco Group, The Jamaica Tourist Board, Fraser Fontaine and Kong, and Richmond Estates are among the sponsors of the charity event.

Dan Theoc is senior vice-president at Mayberry Investments.

“When we were approached to come on board our immediate response was to support it in any way we could, because we thought the efforts are valiant and they’ve been at it for 17 years helping children and adolescents. So, we are proud to be a part of it. We support their brands, they support us as investment managers, and together we’re supporting the growth and development of Jamaica,” said Theoc.