Whenever the chapter on Jamaica’s response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) is written, the role of local charities and the spirit of volunteerism will have to be recognised. “Our local charities have really stepped up to the plate in a big way,” the Prime Minister said, in a recent virtual meeting with business leaders and other stakeholders, in response to the...

Seventy-four students of the Mount Pleasant Primary and Infant School in Portland have received care packages from the institution for Child Month, which is being observed in May. Principal of the school, Dian Vidal Briggs, told JIS News that the packages were purchased with donations that overseas Jamaicans and persons in and around the community gave. This was a response...

With schools being closed as part of measures to control and prevent the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), many students have been unable to keep up with their schoolwork due to the lack of access to the Internet and other necessary resources. Detective Inspector of Police Pilmar Powell, who has been assigned to the Kingston Western Police Division since 2018,...

The Kiwanis Club of St. Bess has been actively making contributions and raising the morale of persons working on the front lines in Black River and its environs in St. Elizabeth as Jamaica continues to grapple with the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The six-year-old service club, comprising 26 members, has over the past few weeks been making donations...

Residents of Mount Salem, St. James, were apprehensive when the first Zone of Special Operations (ZOSO) was declared in the community, in 2017; however, today they are saluting the initiative as “a good three years”. Not only has the ZOSO served as a tool to contain crime but has helped to rebrand the community and transform the residents’ lives. Resident...

Expectant teen Ann Buckley* is grateful for the care packages provided to beneficiaries of the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation (WCJF), who are facing challenges due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The 15-year-old tells JIS News that she was made aware of the distribution by one of her classmates, and on Thursday (April 2), even though she had a maternity...

It has been about 167 years since Jamaican nurse, Mary Seacole, demonstrated acts of kindness to the sick and dying in the Crimean war in the mid-19th century. Now, the Mary Seacole Foundation (MSF) will be introducing programmes this year to honour and preserve her legacy. Initiatives being embarked on by the MSF, which was launched in August 1998, include...

With a well-documented history of assistance to the island’s health and education sectors, the Issa Trust Foundation, under the leadership of Chairman, Paul Issa, and the patronage of Their Excellencies, the Most Hon. Sir Patrick and Lady Allen, has joined in the fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19). The Foundation, the non-profit arm of Couples Resorts Jamaica, has donated US$238,000 (J$32...

The Portland-based Mount Pleasant Primary and Infant School, through its Giving Hands Foundation, is reaching out to less fortunate persons in the community. Through funds donated by staff members, food and other essential items are purchased and distributed to individuals in need. Founder of the group and guidance counsellor at the school, Andrea Farquharson, tells JIS News that students play...