MONTEGO BAY, St James –NATIONAL Supply Company extended a decade-long partnership with the Montego Bay Boys and Girls Club through the donation of $1.5 million towards basketball and netball programmes as well as the marching band.

The presentation was made recently by Donovan Chen-See, the company’s director of sales and marketing.

“It has developed into more than just a sponsorship relationship; it is a partnership,” he said of the ties between the two organisations.

Chen-See explained that their association with the club started in 2008.

“[We were] involved in various little projects, just responding to requests in writing,” he said.

About a decade ago that all changed.

“Ten years ago Suzette Brown came to me and said it’s time to get serious about Montego Bay Boys and Girls Club,” Chen-see told the Jamaica Observer.

Since then, he said, the relationship has grown, and he has also learned a lot about the club during that time.

“I then realised how important this club is to Montego Bay… I was told about all the people who passed through this club and who became athletes, entertainers, business people [who] went away and did well,” he told Observer West.

He explained that after the company came on board fully in 2013 and the word got out, he was occasionally approached by various community members who thanked him for his involvement.

National Supply Company is also the main sponsor for Urban Knights, one of the top basketball clubs and former National Basketball League champions. Chen-see said it was an easy decision to also support the teams at the Montego Bay Boys and Girls Club.

“It was a good concept but, more importantly, the club represents a very important part of youth development, which I learned about as we went along,” he told Observer West.

Because the concept was sound he was able to get a representative of one of the brands they sell, a Panamanian of Jamaican descent, on board as well.

Chen-see said that adding both the marching band and another band that provides music during events to the sponsorship was part of their mandate as sports and music helps keep members “focused on good stuff and disciplined”.

Focused on nurturing the club, they have not really stopped to tally their financial contribution over the last 10 years.

“It started in 2013, on an official level, at half-a-million; now it’s $1.2 million. Up until COVID it was basketball and netball but we have added the marching band. I don’t know, I’ve not added it up,” Chen-see admitted.

Councillor Richard Vernon, who represents the St James South Division where the club is situated, has lauded National Supply for its generosity. He is the club’s chairman and his words of praise were delivered on behalf of other members of the club’s interim management team.

“The Montego Bay Boys & Girls Club has been a part of the fabric of the city of Montego Bay, and you may say even St James, for many years — for over 50 years,” noted Vernon.