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IN ANIMATED
CONVERSATION: Jean Lowrie-Chin (right), Board
Director, Food for the Poor (FFP) makes a point to Education Minister Hon. Rev.
Ronald Thwaites as Andrew Mahfood, Chairman, FFP Jamaica and Dennis Chung, CEO,
Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, look on. Occasion was the launch of the
FFP 30th Anniversary School Furniture Campaign held at the Terra Nova
Hotel on Wednesday, October 23. . The FFP
30th Anniversary School Furniture Programme aims to
provide no fewer than 15,000 school desks and chairs to educational institutions
islandwide between October 2013 and the end of the 2013-2014 academic
year.
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Kingston,
Jamaica - October 23, 2013: In
celebration of its thirtieth anniversary, Food For The Poor (FFP) today
launched its Thirtieth Anniversary School
Furniture Programme which aims to provide no fewer than 15,000
school desks and chairs to educational institutions islandwide between
October 2013 and the end of the 2013-2014 academic year.
Making the
announcement at the Launch at Terra Nova All Suite Hotel, Andrew Mahfood,
Chairman, FFP Jamaica, said that the charity would be seeking to raise US
$300,000 (i.e. the equivalent of J $31.5 million) to finance the purchase
of student desks and chairs. He disclosed that the first batch of desks and
chairs would be presented to schools in January 2014.
FFP TO DONATE 15,000 NEW STUDENT DESKS AND CHAIRS
“Our fund-raising target is
US$300,000 to provide 15,000 school desks and chairs between now and the end of
the academic year in July 2014,” Mr. Mahfood disclosed. “The first batch of
school furniture donation under this programme will take place in January 2014
– a gift to FFP Jamaica from our head office in Florida - and will see us
distributing 2,300 desks and chairs across the island. These items are
scheduled to arrive in the island by the end of December this year.”
He
pointed out that the FFP 30th Anniversary School Furniture
Programme is intended to satisfy the dire furniture requirements of schools
which are facing an acute shortage of these much-needed supplies. The FFPJ
Chairman explained that the needs and interests of the nation’s children have always been dear to
the hearts at FFP, and as the charity celebrates its 30th
Anniversary, it would be taking its service to that cohort of Jamaica’s
population to even greater heights and renewed intensity. He asserted that FFP
is determined that Jamaica’s children should be allowed to reach their highest
potential in a comfortable and nurturing learning environment.
SOS ON BEHALF OF THE
NATION’S CHILDREN
“We regard the
FFP 30th Anniversary School Furniture initiative as an SOS to the
nation that our children are urgently in need of our support in the creation of
an aesthetically pleasing and child-friendly environment,” declared Mr.
Mahfood. “We should never subject our children to these sub-standard conditions. It
is our duty and social responsibility to empower our children in the best
possible way.”
During
today’s launch, FFP appealed to private sector foundations, businesses, civil society, school
alumni, and members of the Jamaican Diaspora to partner with the charity in the
purchase of student desks and chairs, by becoming donors to the FFP 30th
Anniversary School Furniture Programme.
This initiative is the
latest in a series of school furniture distributions by FFP over the
years. Between January and August this
year, 36 schools received school furniture from FFP. Last year alone FFP
distributed $1.3 billion worth of school furniture and supplies to schools
across Jamaica.
FFP ENCOURAGING
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
At today’s event both the
FFPJ Chairman Mr. Mahfood and its Executive Director Jacqueline Johnson
expressed the commitment of the charity to continue to meet the needs of the
nation’s economically and socially challenged youngsters and adults in a
variety of ways. The charity’s executives pointed out that by providing citizens with basic
necessities such as food, clothing and shelter, skills training, and by
assisting with the development of income-generating activities, FFP has been
realizing its mandate of encouraging sustainable development among Jamaicans.
EDUCATION MINISTER ENDORSES FFP SCHOOL FURNITURE PROGRAMME
Keynote Speaker at today’s launch, Hon. Rev. Ronald
Thwaites, Minister of Education expressed delight and appreciation over FFP 30th
Anniversary School Furniture Initiative. Commending FFP for its ongoing support to
schools, the programmes of the Ministry of Education and the needy in the
society, Minister Thwaites said the charity’s 30th Anniversary
School Furniture Programme is “the kind of public-private partnership which
he would like most of Jamaica to be engaged in”. He stressed that it is
important for Jamaicans “to ensure we lift up the dignity and congeniality of
every child by the provision of adequate school furniture.”
He
stated that the Ministry of Education welcomed the donation of school furniture
from FFP, as during the last fiscal year, of the over $70 billion budget for
the Education Ministry, there was no allocation for furniture. He indicated
that this year even though approximately $50 million from the education budget
will go towards the provision of school furniture, and already some 17,000
pieces of furniture items have been delivered to schools, “this is just a
fraction of the need of what exists”.
APPEAL
TO THE JAMAICAN DIASPORA
Pointing out that
there are 130 school alumni groups in the United States alone, the Education
Minister made a special appeal to Jamaicans in the Diaspora: “I call on
Jamaicans abroad who have benefited from education here, which allows them to
strive abroad, to contribute to this furniture programme.”
Minister
Thwaites implored students to take care of both new and existing furniture.
Additionally, he proposed that a barter arrangement could be worked out with
parents who are welders or carpenters who are having difficulty paying
auxiliary fees, in that they could give their labour in effecting furniture
repairs as their payment of auxiliary fees.
TESTIMONIALS
& ENDORSEMENTS
Merna Jackson,
Principal of Real Success Basic School, and Chevon Lewis, Head boy, Kingston
College shared testimonials at today’s Launch, pointing out that the FFP
donation of school furniture to their institutions has been a source of great
inspiration, improved ambience and convenience for both students and members of
staff.
Dennis
Chung, CEO, Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica and Everton Hannam,
President, National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica endorsed the
initiative, expressing the desire to have greater collaboration between FFP and
their organizations in the future. Mr. Chung reiterated that unless Jamaica’s
education system was offering a quality environment and turning out quality
graduates, the nation’s economy would be stymied.
Among
persons who participated in today’s Launch of the FFP 30th
Anniversary School Furniture Programme were: Charmaine Lawson Gray of Supreme
Ventures; JoanFlo Morris of the Bob Marley Foundation; Latoya Harris of
National Education Trust; Sheryl Bromfield, Public Relations &
Communication Manager with the Ministry of Education; Anika Smith of Mayberry
Investments and Jean Lowrie-Chin, FFP Board Director, as well as Daniel and
Joshua Shreves of St. George’s College.
HOW
TO MAKE DONATIONS
Donors may make their contributions on line at: foodforthepoor.org/schoolfurniture .Persons
may also send their commitments to jacquelinej@foodforthepoorja.org and deposit their donations to NCB St.
Jago Shopping Centre Branch, Account number 47-1043885. Those
wishing to make US dollar donations should lodge to the NCB St. Jago Shopping
Centre Branch, Account Number 47-4335267.
-End-
Food For The Poor (FFP)-Jamaica is the largest
charity organization in the country. Food For The Poor Inc., located in
Florida, USA, was named by The Chronicle of Philanthropy as the largest international
relief and development organization in the United
States.
It is an interdenominational Christian
agency that does much more than feed the millions of hungry poor in 17
countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. FFP provides emergency relief
assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for
orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development
assistance, with more than 95% of all donations going directly to programmes
that help the poor. For more information visit our Web site at www.foodforthepoorja.com
_________________________________________________________
Contact:
Erica James-King, PROComm, T: 926-6740 or
564-5277
Petri-Ann Henry, Food For The Poor, T: 984-5005
or 564-2886
