4-H Clubbites Clean Priory Beach and Seville River

Users of the Priory beach and Seville River in St. Ann are benefiting from more aesthetic surroundings thanks to the efforts of the Marcus Garvey Technical High School 4-H Club.

The club members recently cleaned up the facilities as part of their Environmental Challenge Project.

4-H Club leader at the school, Glenroy Williams, told JIS News that the project, which was undertaken on February 23, sought to benefit the club members as well as the general public.

“The project was two-fold. First we went to the Seville River and cleaned up a section of the area then we journeyed to the Priory beach where the clubbites did a tremendous job in giving the area a face lift,” he said.

He appealed to members of the public to support the 4-H movement in the parish and help to create a much healthier environment.

Club President, Anika Mott said that the main aim of the project was to allow members of the public to realize the importance of a clean environment.

“A clean surrounding is a contributing factor to promoting a healthy lifestyle and my involvement in the Marcus Garvey 4-H Club has caused me to develop a high level of respect for myself and for the things that make up the environment,” she told JIS News.

Vice President of the Club, Devon Christie said that his involvement in the project had allowed him to have a much greater love for “mother earth”.

“I have benefited from this project in that it has helped me to develop a better understanding of land husbandry. It is also good that we did this project because it helps in the country’s tourism development,” he pointed out.

Club member Kimone Grant said that the group had collected a number of items from the areas that they had cleaned up, which would be among the Club’s display at the Environmental Challenge Competition that would be held in March 2005.

“We collected dry leaves, sea shells, sea fans and sea sponges among other things to put in our display corner on the day of the competition. We are going to be painting the shells to make them look colourful and we will be using the dried leaves to decorate pictures,” she informed.