Disaster Relief Fund Launched In Clarendon

The Clarendon Parish Disaster Relief Fund was launched on Monday (Sept.20) with an initial contribution of $70,000. The fund has been created to respond to major disasters affecting the parish but will be used immediately, to provide assistance to persons who have been seriously affected by Hurricane Ivan.
At the launch held at the Clarendon Parish Council, Mayor of May Pen, Councillor Milton Brown informed that an account has been opened at the National Commercial Bank (NCB) for persons to contribute to the fund. The account number of 564182885.
He called on the business community to make their contributions, while commending Juici Patties, Witters & Sons Funeral Home, Johnson’s Funeral Home, Phillips & Sons Funeral Home, JAMALCO, New Yarmouth, Homar’s Roti, Spike Industries, Epic Hardware, Love FM, Sugar Company of Jamaica Monymusk Division, Shagourays Business and Maxie Department Store for their participation in the hurricane relief effort.
The fund was started through a $50,000 contribution from Anthony Smatt, proprietor of the May Pen Shopping Mall and Trading Towers and $10,000 each from Mayor Brown and Deputy Mayor, Councillor Leopold Hylton. The Clarendon Chamber of Commerce and the NCB May Pen Branch and Shagourays Hardware pledged their contribution to the fund.
In addition, Century Eslon Jamaica Limited donated 1,000 pails of water and five 400-gallon tanks for the storage of water.
According to Mayor Brown, the Welfare Sub Committee of the Clarendon Disaster Preparedness Committee would manage the fund and make recommendations for relief assistance.
This committee is constituted of representatives from the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, The Poor Relief Department, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the Adventist Disaster Relief Agency (ADRA).
Mayor Brown said that a critical area, which he hoped would be addressed through the fund, was the provision of assistance for students to go back to school.
“I want to suggest to the committee that we concentrate some immediate effort on supporting the students who were affected by the terrorist ‘Ivan’. we need to help them with uniforms, books and lunch. We need to assist the schools to replenish some of their damaged equipment, we need to help some of the parents to enable them to assist their children,” he stated.