Basil Smith: A one-man service club

Carl Gilchrist, Gleaner Writer

OCHO RIOS, St Ann:IT WAS through the urging of a friend (the late Natalie Pottinger) that Basil Smith formalised his love for children in 2003 through the setting up of a non-profit organisation called Hand in Hand Help.

Since then, Smith, with the support of several sponsors, has made hundreds of kids and teachers from primary and all-age schools in St Ann and St Mary happy with his donations.

"I started at Tydixon All-Age in 2003," said Smith in an interview with The Gleaner. "I was there for three years and then I branched out to other schools, starting with Moneague primary and junior high, and several other schools after that."

The list of schools so far include, among others, Tydixon All-Age, Beecher Town Primary, Lime Hall Primary, Moneague Primary and Junior High, Golden Grove All-Age, St Ann's Bay Primary, Mount Waddy Primary, all in St Ann, along with Preston Hill Primary in St Mary.

Smith targets special occasions such as Christmas, Easter, Child Month and Teachers' Day to hold treats for the kids. The children are treated to school supplies such as bags, exercise books, pens, pencils, rulers, geometry sets, and snacks, including ice cream.

Great love for children

But why has this man dedicated so much time assisting children?

"To tell you the truth, I love kids," was his matter-of-fact answer. "Sometimes when I'm going out I might carry books, pencils and just hand out to kids on the way. I just love kids and I've continued over the year, and might continue doing it until I die."

And the children are quite appreciative. According to Smith, his treat days seem to be the happiest day in school for the kids.

"It seems like it's the happiest day for kids because when we pack up and go to the school and they see all the things they're getting," Smith relates, "once we start playing music and say these are the giveaways - we might ask questions pertaining to the school or the country and there might be dancing contests - it makes them very happy," Smith said.

Explaining the satisfaction he gets from helping the youngsters Smith said: "It's after you leave the school you realise that the kids really love what you do for them. They dance, they sing and after you leave there and go home, get a shower, lay down and look back at it, that's when the feeling comes over you, that you made some kids happy. And I feel very good."

But there's a twist to Smith's story. He has two kids going to primary school and he has never visited their school, and they are complaining.

Said Smith: "They've been asking 'Daddy, why you don't come to my school'?" He has, however, promised them to visit their school later this year.

The latest schools to feel the kind hands of Basil Smith and his Hand in Hand Help organisation are Lime Hall Primary, where a Christmas treat was held in December, and Mount Waddy Primary, near Moneague, St Ann, where a fun day was held in observance of Child Month and Teachers' Day.

"I just want to say thanks to the sponsors for helping me through all these years and I hope they might continue helping as long as I'm doing this," said a grateful Smith.

Among the main sponsors are JN Patel and Company in Kingston, which supplies "all the books I need", Island Dairies, Manhattan House, Golden Loaf Bakery, and Dolphin Cove.

rural@gleanerjm.com

'It's after you leave the school you realise that the kids really love what you do for them. They dance, they sing and after you leave there and go home ... and look back at it, that's when the feeling comes over you, that you made some kids happy. And I feel very good.'