A broad smile instantly replaced the plain look on principal Elaine Jones' face as members of the Thomas House Music House, a registered not-for-profit organi-sation in England, placed some educational material on the table in the lounge of the Seaview Gardens Primary School.

"Oh thank you, thank you," she said with gratitude. "There is no way we would have ever been able to afford all of this."

Book donation

The group donated the books to the school on Tuesday after reading a story published in The Gleaner about the immense support the institution was receiving from students' parents.

The school, sited in one of the Corporate Area's inner-city communities, gets tremendous support, from parents, most of whom live in the community, The Gleaner has learnt.

"Before you tell somebody to make their bed, you have to make your bed first," said Lilian Roberts, chairperson of the organisation, as she called for Jamaicans to lead the way in small-scale charity causes.

Passion for reading

Both Roberts and her vice-chairperson, Errol Hines, are Jamaicans living in England. They spent their formative years in the island before migrating to England at age 11. The group was born out of Roberts' passion for reading, which she said was instilled by her father, a Garveyite, and her mother, a schoolteacher.

"I remember when I was eight years old, I went to school one day and I was the only person in my class with a book that we used and I went and I said to my mother, 'I want to be able to give to others'," Roberts said. And that she did.

The idea to form an organisation was fleshed out after her brother's death in 2000.

"He (my brother) was like me and he used to give books when he would come to Jamaica. I decided I would continue that and started shipping books to Jamaica," said Roberts, who also donates musical instruments.

Other beneficiaries

Their donations, which will stretch from schools such as Font Hill Primary School, St Elizabeth, in the west, to Lyssons Primary, St Thomas, in the east.

"Oh! And grade one can use this albatross," said Jones picking up the learning tool.

"And these can go to the library," she continued, as she pored over the educational material.

gareth.manning@gleanerjm.com