Westmoreland Infirmary Receives Donation from Student
By: , December 28, 2023
Photo: Serena Grant
Assistant Matron of the Westmoreland Infirmary, Lorna Gifford (second right) and Assistant Poor Relief Officer for the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation, Angella Morris (right), accept a donation from University of Technology (UTech) Jamaica student, Geri-Ann Miller (fourth left), on December 28. Also taking part in the presentation are Ms. Miller’s family members (from left): father, Gerald Miller; mother, Andrea Miller and brother, Anthony Miller. Among the items donated were adult diapers, toiletries, soaps, and detergent.The Full Story
The Westmoreland Infirmary has received a donation of toiletries and other items from University of Technology (UTech) Jamaica student, Geri-Ann Miller.
Among the items donated were sheets, sanitisers, detergent, soaps, adult diapers and bed pads.
The 21-year-old student handed over the items at the infirmary on Thursday (December 28).
They were acquired through donations of cash and kind from mostly family members and friends and are valued at some $85,000.
In an interview with JIS News, Assistant Poor Relief Officer for the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation, Angella Morris, expressed gratitude for the donation.
“On behalf of the Corporation and the Poor Relief Department, I would like to say thank you for all these gifts and we will make the best use of them for our residents and our outdoor poor,” she said.
For her part, Ms. Miller noted that the initiative was a family effort, as it was her parents’ suggestion.
“I was kind of bogged down with schoolwork this year, so I wasn’t really in the brainstorming. My parents came up with the idea to give back to the infirmary and I thought it was a great idea, so this is a family affair, and I am very appreciative of their support,” she told JIS News.
“In previous years it was family members and close friends who contributed, but for this year it was extended to the wider community, business associates, church affiliates and my parents’ colleagues, so it was very much a community effort, and I am very appreciative of the support I was given,” Ms. Miller added.
Ms. Miller’s gift-giving started in 2011 when the Miller family, which lived in the United States (US)) for several years, returned to Jamaica.
The chemical engineering student was inspired by the work of the Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian charity based in the US, which donates to less fortunate children across the globe.
This began a yearly tradition of gifting various items to children at the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital’s paediatric ward at Christmas time.
Ms. Miller donated nebulisers to the hospital in February of this year to assist children with respiratory issues on the paediatric ward.