The Reddie’s Place of Safety in Kingston has received a donation of school supplies from non-profit organisation Youths For Excellence Limited (YFE), which will benefit wards at the home. The items, which were handed over during a function held at the facility recently, include backpacks, water bottles, crayons and masks, and gift baskets. Founder of the home, Clover “Reddie” Brown, in expressing gratitude said that the items are well-need, particularly as the children have resumed face-to-face classes.
“You did not have to think of us. It is always good when young people give back; it shows that there are still good moral values out there,” Ms. Brown said. YFE is a multinational organisation whose mandate is to serve and give back to the most vulnerable and underprivileged in society. Founder, Board Co-Chair and President, Jénine Shepherd, said that the entity’s reach extends beyond Jamaica, to Guyana, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and it is expanding to Delaware in the United States.
Ms. Shepherd said that the organisation, since its inception in 2015, has seen exponential growth in its activities, contributing to the betterment of more than 10,000 lives across the Caribbean. She informed that the foundation will be undertaking an agriculture education youth project, which is scheduled to be launched in April of 2022. “The aim of this project is to provide skills training and employment opportunities in the agriculture sector for unemployed young parents. The pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity and increased our food import bill as a region. This project will serve to prop up the agriculture sector and other linkage industries, and build on the “25 in 5” plan by CARICOM, to slash the regional food import bill and boost human capital development in the targeted islands,” Ms. Shepherd explained.
Director of Communications and Strategy for the YFE, Shantole Thompson, said that the organisation is “definitely on board with supporting the [Reddie’s Place of Safety] on a long-term basis”. She said that the organisation is also looking to reach other children’s homes across the country. “One project I have been talking to the founder most recently about is adopting a small children’s home. This is something I hold dear to my heart, as our children are the future and they need our support in whatever way we can,” she noted.
