Agents offer a helping Hand in Jamaica

Lecia Allen, vice principal at Montego Bay, pays her bills before she can pay her own. She uses her salary to run Wings Kidz, a program for inner-city kids who are falling behind the classroom.

As part of the Jamaica Tourist Board’s humanitarian fam taking place in destination this week, travel agents from across Canada visited Wings to deliver school supplies and hand over a cheque for $4,400 to help alleviate some of the costs it takes to run the program.

“As en educator you cannot just sit by and see the need in the community and do nothing about it,”Allen said this during a cheque-handover presentation at school. “This is by far one of the biggest supports I’ve ever gotten. Travel agents, you are promoting Jamaica. This is the future. They [the children] may look very small now but they are going to be growing up to work in the hotel industry. Thank you. This is my baby, my heartbeat.”

Bonnie Fowler, the person who raised the most funds for the donation and was the recipient of the cheque, encouraged everyone at the presentation to launch their own fundraising efforts back home.

“As a travel agent I believe it’s our responsibility to leave everywhere we go better than how we found it and that starts with the next generation,”She said

After she first visited the program that’s not only designed to improve literacy and numeracy but also focuses on character building, dance, music, sports and more, with Canada Jetlines in December, Angella Bennett, regional director, Canada, for the Jamaica Tourist Board knew she wanted to do more to help out.

“On behalf of the Jamaica Tourist Board, and the Canadian travel agent community, it gives us great pleasure to present this small token for this wonderful program and all that you are doing,”Bennett said as he handed over the check.

Building a School in Dumfries

The Helping Hands Jamaica Foundation is another initiative that agents have supported this week. They are an organization that builds schools to provide children with a better education and a brighter future by building them in remote areas. The project has impacted the lives of over 15,000 individuals and has assisted in Jamaica’s raising literacy rates.

The foundation’s Natasha Borota told PressToday that it costs a minimum of $250,000 to build a new school.

“These schools aren’t just for education. The whole point is that if there’s a vote that has to happen, you can meet at the school to vote on something. If there’s an emergency like a hurricane you come here to pick up food relief. I’ve had some of the principals reach back to me saying we’re safe, the school is standing, and sometimes those schools have become shelters for families who have lost their homes,”She added. “Once we hand this over to the community, it’s theirs. It’s absolutely not just a school. It’s a community hub.”

Bennett said Helping Hands has been one of JTB’s main initiatives, and the project has raised more than $70,00 for it.

Travel advisors on the fam lent a helping hand on the project by priming and painting the new Dumfries Primary School ahead of a ribbon cutting ceremony by Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett. They also brought supplies for the upcoming school year.

“Thank you to the travel agents that are here today that have taken the time out of their busy schedules to invest in this project with me. I cannot be more proud,” Bennett shared.

For more on the fam trip, don’t miss the next edition of Canadian Travel Press!