Claudine Housen, Staff Reporter"I have the first $100, so by Sunday (December 18) we are
going to get some money together," she continued. "I would like if we could come up with either $1,000 or $2,000 so they can bury their loved ones."
WESTERN BUREAU:
A JAMAICAN living abroad, Mrs. Maria Sanderson, has come to the rescue of six Westmoreland families who are experiencing difficulties in finding the funds to bury their sons who perished in a fatal accident along the Gutters main road in St. Elizabeth, last Saturday.
In an interview with The Sunday Gleaner, an ex- automated logistics specialist in the United States military, Maria Sanderson said she was overcome with tears when she read the article outlining the family's plight on The Gleaner website on Wednesday.
"When I read the web page, the first thing that caught my heart was the headline: 'Westmoreland families need help to bury relative,' she said. "When I read the story, tears started to come to my eyes and I said, 'My God I would hate to read The Gleaner and cannot help'."
Deciding almost immediately that she would do her best to assist the families, Mrs. Sanderson picked up the phones and started to make some phone calls. The first call she made went to her church, The Open Bible Church of God in Connecticut.
"I called Bishop Lovelace and said, 'Bishop we need to do something'," Mrs. Sanderson said. "Then I called the radio station (WVOF 88.5) and asked them to help me raise some money to help these people. They told me to get the information from the families so that we as a community could raise some money to help the families."
BURYING LOVED ONES
"I have the first $100, so by Sunday (December 18) we are going to get some money together," she continued. "I would like if we could come up with either $1,000 or $2,000 so they can bury their loved ones."
Noting that Christmas was a time of giving, Mrs. Sanderson lamented about what she perceived as a lack of church response to the families' needs.
"The pastors need to be more like Christ and help the people who need it," she said.
