Youth Volunteers for Major Clean-Up Project in St. Catherine
By: , March 17, 2017The Key Point:
Photo: Contributed
Members of Operation Save A Youth (OSAY) carrying out clean-up activities in sections of Clarendon in 2016. The group is attached to the Central Jamaica Seventh-day Adventists and is an initiative to volunteer young people’s time and talents to the service of community persons that are in need of help.The Facts
- The volunteers, who are drawn from the parishes of Manchester, Clarendon and St. Catherine, seek to inspire hope in at-risk youth by encouraging them to rediscover the sense of belonging to a greater purpose, and embracing service and volunteerism as a way of life.
- Representatives from the Blood Bank will also be present to facilitate blood donations.
The Full Story
More than 3,000 youth volunteers will conduct a clean-up of streets, as well as senior citizens homes, schools and other public facilities in St. Catherine, on Sunday, March 19.
The engagement, which is organised by the Central Jamaica Seventh-day Adventists under their Operation Save a Youth (OSAY) initiative, is being undertaken for the third consecutive year.
It encourages young people to extend kindness to persons in need by volunteering to participate in uplifting activities.
The volunteers, who are drawn from the parishes of Manchester, Clarendon and St. Catherine, seek to inspire hope in at-risk youth by encouraging them to rediscover the sense of belonging to a greater purpose, and embracing service and volunteerism as a way of life.
“We will be doing painting, providing mattresses, cleaning bathroom facilities, and (providing) other care that persons need,” OSAY’s Marketing Officer, Patricia Grant, told JIS News.
Prior to the commencement of work on more than 300 outreach projects being targeted Sunday, the participants will converge at the José Martí High School in Spanish Town, for the opening exercises, including registration and selecting their project of choice.
They will, thereafter, be deployed across St. Catherine.
Representatives from the Blood Bank will also be present to facilitate blood donations.
Miss Grant said other features of the day include an expo which will, among other things, provide free medical checks and facilitate educational institutions whose representatives will be on hand to enrol prospective students.
The day will conclude with a concert slated for the Spanish business centre, during which scholarships will be presented to persons who had previously applied through the OSAY initiative
In 2015, the parish of Manchester benefited from the initiative, while the focus was on Clarendon last year.
Acting Principal of the Gimme-Mi-Bit Primary School in Clarendon, Sue-Ann Johns, said the institution remains grateful for the refurbishing work done to the boys’ bathroom, adding that she was “very glad to see young persons so supportive, and part of such a group”.