St. Catherine Municipal Corporation Partners with Seventh-Day Adventists to Clean Up Parish

The St. Catherine Municipal Corporation is collaborating with the Seventh-day Adventist Central Jamaica Conference (CJC) on a major clean-up and beautification project across the parish on Sunday (March 30).

The Corporation has donated $500,000 to support the clean-up activity, which will focus on town centres.

Speaking at the handover of the funds at the Corporation’s offices in Spanish Town on Wednesday (March 26), Mayor of Spanish Town, Councillor Norman Scott, said the organisation is happy to be partnering with the church.

“We will be coming out in our numbers on Sunday,” he said, noting that along with the cash donation, the Corporation is providing paint and other materials to improve the aesthetics of the parish.

The clean-up is part of the CJC’s Operation Save a Youth (OSAY) initiative, which involves youth volunteers cleaning, beautifying, and uplifting their community.

More than 3,000 young people will be engaged in the day’s activities, which will also involve the beautification and painting of schools and hospitals; repair, renovation and building of more than 30 houses; feeding of the homeless; and visits to infirmaries and children’s homes.

“We will be impacting those areas right across the parish and the major undertaking for the day will be our massive clean-up project,” said Director of Youth, Children and Adolescent Ministries at the CJC, Pastor Dwayne Scott.

“We are happy for the collaboration and the partnership as we seek to enhance what will be happening in our townships. The markets will be cleaned, the street sides will be cleaned up,” he pointed out.

Other activities will be a health and wealth expo at the Prison Oval, where persons can access a range of medical and counselling services.

Later in the day, the group will hand over 22 scholarships to students attending various educational institutions, and the day will culminate with entertainment by gospel performers.

For his part, President of the St. Catherine Chamber of Commerce, Dennis Robotham, welcomed the “joining of hands and heart” to clean and beautify the parish.

“The St. Catherine Chamber is going to be a part of this, not only for the upcoming event on Sunday. We are also… bringing a number of other churches to partner with us so we can have the manpower, and we will be supplying some bags and gloves and that sort of thing. We are hoping that for the rest of the year we will continue,” Mr. Robotham said.