Woman Inc. Crisis Centres To Benefit From 5k Walk/Run

The Woman Incorporated (Woman Inc.) Crisis Centres will benefit from part proceeds raised in this year’s second staging of the Civil Service Week (CSW) 5K Walk/Run.

Woman Inc. is a non-governmental organisation (NGO), which has been in operation for 35 years and provides assistance to victims of rape, incest, domestic violence, sexual harassment in the workplace and, more recently, human trafficking.

These services and interventions are mainly provided through two crisis centres operated in Kingston and Montego Bay.

The 5K event, which runs off from Emancipation Park in Kingston on Saturday, November 16, is one of several being organised by the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service to mark Civil Service Week 2019, from November 17 to 23, under the theme, ‘Building and Sustaining a Culture of Excellence’.

Portfolio Minister, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, headed the officials and guests attending the event’s launch at the Courtleigh Hotel in New Kingston, on Friday (September 13).

Dr. Clarke, who commended members of the CSW Steering Committee, sponsors and other stakeholders involved in staging the 5K walk/run, said their inputs are “sending a signal to the rest of the country that this activity is important”.

“The civil service plays a crucial role in our country… and the [broader] public sector delivers to us services that make life possible and make life function. If we can do more with the same set of resources, it means that we all, as a country, benefit,” he added.

For her part, CSW Steering Committee Chair, Lorna Phillips, noted that the support being provided to Woman Inc. has been “in the making for two years”.

“We weren’t able to do it 2017… and we weren’t able to do it in 2018, but we are doing it in 2019,” she said.

Mrs. Phillips, who is Principal Director for the Ministry’s Compensation Management and Implementation Branch, underscored the “need for us to come and support this [5K] activity”, in order to provide the assistance being targeted for Woman Inc.

For her part, Woman Incorporated Limited representative, Tatiana Answer, said the NGO is “grateful to have been chosen as the beneficiary”.

She noted that while the entity gets a government subvention as well as support from local and international charitable organisations, it still incurs significant expenses to maintain its operations, which are mainly administered by volunteers.

Against this background, she said, “we really appreciate the support and all the help that we can get”.

Services provided by Woman Inc. include face-to-face counselling at both centres from Monday to Friday, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.; and a 24-hour hotline – 976-929-2997.

The NGO also operates Jamaica’s sole crisis shelter, which provides temporary emergency accommodation for women in desperate situations.

The 5K walk/run, which will take participants along a scenic route in and around New Kingston, is being sponsored by First Heritage Co-operative Credit Union Limited (FHCCU) and organised by Running Events Jamaica.