Volunteers improve lives of children

WHILE the eyes of many Jamaicans were focused on the events unfolding in the western part of Kingston on Labour Day, Monday, May 24, others were trying to maintain a sense of normality by carrying out their usual volunteer activities, this year, focused on improving the lives of our children. Among the latter were more than 100 volunteers from bauxite/alumina company Jamalco, who used the opportunity to give flesh to one of the com-pany's core values: giving back to its host communities.

Leo Lambert, Jamalco's corporate services and government affairs manager, explained that the company, owned 55 per cent by Alcoa, has fully adopted and "Jamaicanised" Alcoa's approach to volunteerism.

"Each year, we raise the bar in terms of encouraging increasing numbers of our employees to give voluntary service to the communities in which they live and work," he said.

The volunteers worked on 10 projects in Clarendon and Manchester. Forty-one employees spent the day painting the play area and the external walls of the Children's Ward of the May Pen Hospital in Clarendon.

The company also donated books and furniture for the ward's play area in order to encourage parents to read to their children while visiting them.

Employees also used the day to continue projects that they had started weeks before. Bentley Knight and 11 co-workers, assisted by community volunteers, completed a beautification project at the Osborne Store Primary and Junior High School. Knight, a supervisor in the Clarification Department at Jamalco, says the school "was experiencing challenges with proper garbage dispo-sal as the collection system was haphazard". He added that the Clarendon Parish Council had insisted that the school improve its sanitation-disposal system.

They cleaned the school yard, removed piles of rubble, and planted flower beds around the school compound. The team is planning several other workdays to complete the job that it knows will go a far way in enhancing the learning environment.

Several Jamalco teams are also focusing their efforts on improving the environment in which children learn under the 'Bravo' banner. The Alcoa Bravo programme challenges each employee to give at least 50 hours service in a calendar year to an approved institution. In return, the Alcoa Foundation recognises this effort by giving the institution US$250 for the employee who completes the set time.