By Trudy Simpson , Staff ReporterCHARITY ORGANISATIONS, Food for the Poor and the Salvation Army, have spent 13 years feeding hundreds of homeless persons in downtown Kingston and its environs.
This year, they have decided to take it a step further by spearheading an initiative which will eventually help scores of destitute persons to leave the streets.
Last week, Food for the Poor launched its new accommodation for the homeless, the newly renovated Cluster B of the Golden Age Home in Kingston.
Food for the Poor, already sponsors of two other clusters there, has adopted another because "we saw the need," said Nellian Slowley, public relations official.
THE AIM
"The aim is to start off with seven men and seven women, but I can hold 77 in that cluster," says Bradley Finzi-Smith, executive director of Food for the Poor. Mr. Finzi-Smith said his agency has discovered about 56 people who need a home and jobs.
In a month, the charity organisation will begin working with other officials to select the Cluster's first residents, he said.
The building to house them was renovated at little additional cost, with the assistance of paint distributor, Sherwin Williams, and a contractor who painted the building free of cost, as well as various organisations and Food for the Poor's Florida-based office.
It is sending blankets, furnishings, and other necessities.
In addition, once the residents have been selected, there will also be programmes to boost and use their skills.
"We are going to try to beef up chicken rearing and we will also bring in machines and teach them to sew," said Mr. Finzi-Smith.
"We found carpenters, et cetera, on the streets. We even found someone who was a teacher."
NIGHTWALK
The idea behind the cluster's renovation emerged from an initiative in which officials from Food for the Poor, the Salvation Army, the Poor relief department, Rev. Al. Miller and other groups organised a "nightwalk" to look at the problems of the homeless/persons living on the streets last November.
Assisted by Bellevue Hospital officials, the nightwalk group was able to ascertain those among the mentally challenged who need help.
"Yes, it's nice that we are feeding them everyday but... if I can remove 70 or 100 every month, that would be my whole aim," Mr. Finzi-Smith said.
The joint feeding programme feeds about 700 people, the majority of whom are homeless, said Captain Reuben Phillips of the Salvation Army. Those living on the street include deportees, substance abusers, people who were abandoned, the mentally ill, and residents who have had conflict in their neighbourhood, he said.
