By Dionne Rose, Staff ReporterA LARGE white South Winds aircraft from Salt Lake City in the United States with some 3,000 boxes of food and thousands of emergency supplies arrived yesterday in the island to be distributed to persons affected by Hurricane Ivan.
"This shipment is a joint effort between the Church of the Latter-day Saints and the Seventh-day Adventist Church through its humanitarian agency, ADRA," explained Pastor Claude Brown, director of Adventist Develop-ment and Relief Agency (ADRA).
REACHING OUT TO JAMAICANS
Included in the shipment are plastic sheeting, soap, bottled water, powdered milk, baby
cereal, tarpaulin, hygiene kits and ropes. Elder Roy Turner, president of Jamaica Mission of the Church of the Latter-day Saints, said that the shipment was a way of reaching out to Jamaicans that have been affected by 'Ivan'.
"We feel really terrible for the numbers of persons suffering because of 'Ivan' and we just like to be of help. We are very happy to be working with the ADRA organisation to be able to make a difference to some people," he said. According to Pastor Brown, there are other shipments to arrive in the island. "This is the first shipment. There is another shipment coming in tomorrow (today) with medical supplies. We will take 10 per cent of that cargo for our hospitals and clinics and we will give the other 90 per cent to the Ministry of Health," he said.
MAJOR DONATIONS
Other outside support, he said, is expected from ADRA Ger-many, which he said would be making a substantial contribution. "The ADRA General Conference has networked with all the other major donor countries around the world and we will be getting major donations from them in cash and kind," he disclosed.
Established some 20 years ago, ADRA is one of several organisations which have been working tirelessly to help thousands of Jamaicans affected by Hurricane Ivan.
Speaking about the work of the organisation, Pastor Brown said, "ADRA has been very involved from the very early warnings that there was a hurricane. We have mobilised churches at the four regional areas (and) we manned a number of shelters across the island."
