NYS and Cadet Volunteers to Assist in Clean-Up Exercise

The Office of National Reconstruction (ONR), the National Youth Service (NYS) and the Jamaica Combined Cadet Force will be joining forces through youth volunteers, to help in the clean-up process after Hurricane Ivan.
Communications Liaison at the ONR, Tracey Hamilton, told JIS News that this collaboration came out of a recent meeting among Chief Executive Officer of the ONR, Danville Walker; Executive Director of the NYS, Rev. Adinhair Jones, Lt. Col. Trevor McCurdy, and Lt. Anthony Rowe of the Jamaica Combined Cadet Force.
“We are going to do an islandwide campaign, so we will go into certain areas and help with the clean-up process. We are looking at Negril to start with, for the obvious reason that it is a tourist destination…it is one of the areas that is a prime income earner for Jamaica,” Miss Hamilton pointed out.She said that the group would be liaising with the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) and other relevant parish officials, to seek guidance as to which areas were most devastated.
“We hope to start this clean-up project by the first to second weekend in October,” she added, noting that the exercise would take place primarily on weekends.Miss Hamilton said this initiative should inspire other youth clubs. “The hope is that other youth clubs will follow suit and join with us to help [with] the clean-up process,” she noted.
She appealed to persons who might own trucks or back hoes to lend them to assist with expediting the process. She also asked that persons contribute food to those who were working.
Miss Hamilton noted that Mr. Walker visited a number of sites last weekend to get a first hand knowledge of the levels of damage sustained, as a result of Hurricane Ivan, which struck on September 10.
In addition, the CEO met with officials at the Venezuelan Embassy, which will be offering assistance through its soldiers, who will focus on restoration efforts in the Brighton area of Westmoreland.
Mr. Walker will address members of the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica (PSOJ), at its head office on Hope Road today (September 28), at 5:15 p.m., where he will make an appeal for additional funds to assist with the relief and reconstruction efforts of the ONR.