Woodburns family's Circle of Love

George Henry, Gleaner Writer

In 2003, William Woodburn, his four sisters, nieces and nephews, all of whom currently reside in the United States, except for one who now lives in Jamaica, decided that they wanted to give back to their community at West Road, Cobbla, in Manchester.

They all decided to put on a treat for the children of Cobbla as a test run, and 315 children turned up at their family home in the community to be fêted. Well, since 2003, they have been providing a treat for the children every two years at the same place, and each time it gets bigger and better.

The most recent treat took place on Saturday, April 12, with the sixth staging of the treat, where approximately 357 children turned out. And they were not disappointed, as they were given a special t-shirt, lunch and various other goodies. The smiles were broad on the faces of these children, and satisfaction could also be seen on the faces of the parents and the organisers.

William Woodburn told Rural Xpress that his family decided that since they were going to have the treat for the kids every other year, a decision was made to name it Circle of Love. Although he did not care to give a figure as to what the budget was for the staging of the event, it was easy to determine that the Woodburns expended hundreds of thousands of dollars to give back to the children of their community.

"My family and I were born here, we grew up here, we migrated, we still maintain our roots here; and because of that, we choose to give back to the children in trying to motivate them, so that they can have something to look forward to. They really look forward to it each time we have this treat, and every time it gets bigger," shared Mr. Woodburn.

Woodburn noted that it takes a lot of work to put on the biannual treat, with the most difficult aspect being the purchasing of t-shirts for the volunteers and the children. He stressed that the treat is specifically for children between ages four and 12, and so different size shirts have to be acquired, making it most technical.

"You have to use their age, you go to the factory and you try to judge what the sizes would look like. The food is easy because we have caterers," said Woodburn, who explained that for the staging of the treat, the work starts a year in advance.

Woodburn noted that he and his family members intend to have the Circle of Love treat continue for as long as his family is alive. He said that will be so because the younger members of the family are primarily the financiers of the event.

Woodburn stressed that the children and their parents are very appreciative of the efforts he and his siblings have been making over the years to have their children fêted.

"Today, they are leaving, and if you should see them on the streets tomorrow, they will ask, when will be the next treat," bragged Woodburn.

Saskia Campbell, one of the beneficiaries of the Circle of Love treat, told Rural Xpress that she was very appreciative of the Woodburns putting on the treat. She pointed out that their giving back to the community is a wonderful idea.

"Because, the children of the community really need it. It is very important, because a lot of persons in the community do not have much, neither do they have someone say on their birthday, for example, 'happy birthday', and to give them a gift or to give them a chance to recognise that someone is thinking about them," said Campbell, who said she has benefited from the Circle of Love treat five times out of the six stagings.

Wendy Evans, who is the chairperson for the treat on each occasion, said she is responsible for coordinating the event in Jamaica. Underscoring what William Woodburn said about the work put into organising the event, Evans said the work is difficult, but because she has a team that works with her and to whom she delegates duties, she does not encounter too much stress.

"The team members work in pairs. They collect the name of all the children and pass them to me for tallying, and from there, we continue to work until the very end," said Evans.

Evans has pledged to continue to assist the Woodburns in making the children of the community who fall within the age group happy, with the staging of the treats, as they give back to the community of their birth.

rural@gleanerjm.com