Outreach programme feeds the hungry
Published:Saturday | February 25, 2012 | 12:00 AM
Some came from miles away, literally, to warm their bellies and escape the afternoon sun.
About 100 needy people, some travelling from as far away as Old Harbour and Spanish Town in St Catherine, turned up at the Good Samaritan Inn near Heroes Circle, Central Kingston, yesterday, to share in the Soup and Soap Outreach Programme, conceptualised by the Jamaica Co-Operative Credit Union League (JCCUL).
The inn is run by the East Jamaica Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Usually, it offers small meals three times per week.
"We serve about 250 persons every Sunday and Tuesday and about 150 on Wednesdays. We usually give them soup and bread," explained Vermont Murray, inn manager. But this was a 'good Friday' of another kind and yesterday those who turned out got a little extra because of the JCCUL's contribution. Making the link between the entity and the inn was Silton Townsend, whose Hello Mi Neighbour column in The Gleaner, gives more visibility to the plight of needy neighbours and provides an opportunity for others to help them.
Nothing much
Now it wasn't much; a bowl of soup to sustain them and a bar of soap to help keep themselves clean. And, after about an hour they were packing up their stuff to head back from whence they came. But the show of benevolence certainly wasn't frowned upon by the hungry travellers, most of whom are elderly and from the communities surrounding Heroes Circle. So touched by the eagerness with which they received their sustenance, Claudette Christie, the JCCUL's corporate communications manager, said the entity was examining the possibility of partnering more.
"We hope to continue this for the entire year. Right now, we do it once a month. We're going to see if we can do it twice a month, that way, we would be able to help more people," she explained.
CAPTION: Silton Townsend (left), founder of the Hello Mi Neighbour initiative hands a cup of soup to Inez Brown (second right) while Vermont Murray (right), manager of the Good Samaritan Inn, and Venetia Anderson look on. The event was held at the Good Samaritan Inn at Geffrard Place near Heroes Circle in Kingston. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer