By Erica James-King, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
FOR THE last seven months, the regular feeding programme for the street people of the resort town of Ocho Rios, St. Ann, has been on hold.
The charitable organisation, St. Ann Commission for Street People (SACFSP), halted its feeding project, citing the lack of adequate facilities and an inability to cope with the growing number of homeless people in the town.
INABILITY TO COPE
"From the start of this year, we stopped the feeding programme. We used to feed them at the health centre in Ocho Rios, and also allow them to bathe when they come for the hot meals," Novelette Reid, president of the SACFSP, told The Gleaner Friday.
"But because of the marked increase in the number of homeless people in the town, we just cannot continue to use the health centre; it just cannot accommodate the large numbers."
Mental health experts estimate that the population of street people in Ocho Rios has doubled in the last three years, from 30 in the year 2000 to 60 in 2003.
RESERVATION ABOUT OFFER
The North Gate Family Church on Evelyn Street has offered a solution to the feeding problem facing the St. Ann Commission, but the group has reservations about the offer.
"The North Gate Family Church is not at a central location in the town, so it will be hard for us to attract the street people out there for their meals. The lack of bathing facilities for them at the church, is also another deterrent," said Ms. Reid.
But that's not the only hurdle standing in the way of efforts to improve the lot of the homeless in Ocho Rios and St. Ann in general. During its 11 years of existence the SACFSP has been unsuccessful in its lobbying of government to acquire land to set up a shelter for the homeless in the parish. Repeated promises of land have remained just that promises.
"The former Land Minister (Seymour Mullings) promised us land and that never bore fruit. We were promised different lands in different places and, when the time of delivery came, we were always given an excuse and I honestly feel that the plight of the homeless is not being taken seriously," said the president.
IN NEED OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT
The SACFSP is in need of financial support, to sustain its activities. Last year it cost the group $40,000 per month, in addition to donations, to carry out its feeding programme.
The plight of the homeless has caught the attention of the St. Ann Chamber of Commerce which wants to collaborate with SACFSP, in spearheading outreach programmes. Representatives of both groups plan to meet with the Mental Health Department of the Health Ministry.
