Dotsy Simpson: A naturally giving nature
Published:Monday | March 5, 2012 | 12:00 AM
Sacha Walters-Gregory, Staff Reporter
Dotsy Simpson, simply called Miss Dotsy, helps others because she knows no differently.
The 65-year-old resident of Greenwich Town in Kingston attributes her giving nature to her mother.
"From I was a little girl my mother would take 'her last' for a particular woman. Then she always put it in our heads to do for them," said the retiree who was born in Bull Savannah in St Elizabeth. Over the years, she has lived between the Greenwich Town community and St Elizabeth.
An active member in her community, where she's lived for over 40 years, Miss Dotsy said she just can't sit still.
She helps wherever she can, when a neighbour, a 10- year-old man was in need of a proper home, she set out to lobby for him through the Food for the Poor to get the organisation to give him one of their homes.
"He was the first person I helped," she said. "Sometimes when you pass some of their houses you don't have to go inside to see them on the bed," she said, explaining how derelict some of the homes are. After finding success in this case, a man she still cares for today, she has helped other similar needy persons in the area. She's been helping others in this way as far back as she can remember.
"Many of the Food for the Poor houses in the community you see, I got for them," the mother of four said.
Hospital ministry
An active member of the Holy Name Catholic Church in the same community, the former canteen worker participates in the church's hospital ministry which visits and prays for patients in public hospitals.
"We don't pray for Catholics alone," she added.
"I'm also president of the Golden Age Club," she said, where she has worked with neighbouring businesses such as the Shipping Association of Jamaica (SAJ) and the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (Petrojam) to make the lives of many a little easier.
She lobbied both organisations to help with programmes to benefit senior citizens.
"I asked them (the SAJ) if they could help me with a clinic for my senior citizens," she said. They came through, facilitating a clinic on their premises every second and fourth Wednesday.
"If they [senior citizens] need any medication they have it," she said.
Similarly, Petrojam has facilitated health fairs and helped furnish the Greenwich Town Development Council.
Although officially retired, Miss Dotsy still helps out preparing meals and taking care of infants at the Marcus Garvey Basic School, on the church premises. Her priest, Father Ron Tulloch, asked her to return once the school reopened as community members indicated they would be more comfortable if she was there to help care for their children.
"Yeah, I enjoy it because I'm used to being up and down with my mommy, and sometimes I would even help her work," she said.