MONEYEDE MARTIN has been named, 'Optimist of the Year 2001/2002'.
Since he joined the Optimist Club in 1999, Mr. Martin has risen to the rank of Lieutenant Governor of Zone 11, comprising the parishes of St. Mary and Portland. For his contribution as president of the Port Maria Optimist Club, he has achieved numerous medals and certificates. Mr. Martin received this award at a Caribbean District conference held in St. Johns, Antigua, earlier this year.
Mr. Martin says he is motivated by a driving force to help the less fortunate in the society. He is determined to do all the good he can having grown up in very poor circumstances. "It is giving of one's self to others which will advance the well being of human kind, community life and the world," he says.
During his tenure as president of the Port Maria Club, Mr. Martin added four clubs to St. Mary group, making a total of seven in the parish. This move was extended overseas when he instituted one in South London, England, in 2001. Among the projects undertaken by the clubs in St. Mary are the building of a one-room house by the Oracabessa Club for an 89-year-old indigent woman and medical bills paid by the 'Invincible Club' of Islington for an 11-year-old student of Hillside Primary School who had done surgery to remove a cyst from her neck.
A breakfast programme was established at the Harmony Hall Basic School in Highgate by the Highgate Club. The club also donated a fridge and stove to the school. The Port Maria club installed a tank at the Albion Mt. Health Clinic and refurbished the bathrooms at the Preston Hill Primary School.
The past Governor of the Caribbean District and the first woman to fill that post, Mrs. Shirley Jarrett, has high praises for the Lt. Governor. She sees him as a well focused, committed and responsible young man who has used all these traits to become an outstanding Optimist. "His objective and goals have been realised," she says.
Mrs. Jarrett believes that at the end of his tenure as Lieutenant Governor, he will have proven to be outstanding. She is positive that in the near future he will be standing tall as the Caribbean Governor as there is no end to his achievements. "You just cannot stop an achiever," she says.
