Victoria Mutual led a cleanup exercise at the Children First facility in Spanish Town on Labour Day.
A majority of the work was done on the Monk Street campus, where the corporate entity painted walls, chairs, poles, bathrooms and the office area. Volunteers also debushed the area and cleared garbage.
That campus accommodates 50 students, the same as the facility on Adelaide Street in Jamaica’s first capital city.
“Today is so important, because of our reality. We have limited resources, so the location is not necessarily ‘bashy’. It really needed some paint and cleaning up,” said Claudette Richardson-Pious.
According to Clover Moore, Group Corporate Affairs and Communications Manager at Victoria Mutual the project stemmed from the National Prayer Breakfast, of which Children First is a beneficiary.
Moreover, the NGO could benefit significantly, as the corporate entity is looking at strengthening the bond.
“It is more than just a Labour Day project. We want to have a longer term partnership with Children First, because they are doing a very important job. And one of Victoria Mutual’s strategic goal is to be a model corporate citizen and to really drive the spirit of volunteerism among our team members,” said Moore.
VM staff members came from Linstead, Spanish Town and May Pen.
Children First was among three projects that VMBS worked on for Labour Day, with St. Elizabeth Technical High School and the Montego Bay Free Port Police Station being the others.
According to Moore, 120 of the just over 150 staff volunteers for the day, worked on the Children First project.
This she said, will also form a part of the recently approved VMBS Foundation, which has a focus on at risk youths.
Richardson-Pious said, “I am very happy, because when a little paint go on a building, it makes it look new and fabulous, so I know we will get a little notice.
“It is about the love and feeling and everything that goes with it. It is about the spirit of volunteerism,” she said.
Children First started with the aim of helping children from birth to age 18, now helps young adults as well. The NGO facilitates education, health services, referrals for HIV and syphilis screening.
“We also do a lot of work in terms of assisting person in our communities to become worthwhile human beings. So we give them hope,” said Richardson-Pious.
The organisation has a student population of 100, but does a lot of outreach, touching the lives of over 3,500 young people annually.
Barbering and cosmetology are also taught at the Monk Street location, while the Adelaide Street campus offers data operations and customer service for Level II Heart certification from the Heart Trust NTA.